Fallen Angel
by NoshMono
Summary: By himself, he wasn't able to protect the world from itself. That was the lesson imparted by her in the second war. Five years had passed, and he had settled for a smaller but no less important wish: to protect the happiness being shared by their family.
1. Mobile suits and ship stats

**ZGMF-X16S Fallen (Appearance : Songs of war)**  
**Manufacturer:**Zodiac Alliance of Freedom Treaty (SIREN and AURORA system built by Sukhoi-Gurevich design bureau)  
**Users:**Fllay Allster  
**Unit type: **Prototype multi-role assault mobile suit  
**Head height: **18.16 meters  
**Weight:** 64.73 metric tons (without any module installed)  
**OS:**Generation Unsubdued Networked Delimiter Assisted Module (with Delimiter System)  
**Special equipment:**  
Phase Shift Armor  
"Delimiter" 360D perception system  
"Pathfinder" long range laser targeting system  
**Powerplant:**  
Ultracompact prototype nuclear fusion reactor  
**Armament:**  
MMI-GAU2 "Picus" 76mm CIWS x 2,  
Long beam sword x 2,  
"Armor Schneider" combat knife x 2  
MPG-131 three barrels beam machine gun  
MX2312 "Témoignage" beam shield x 1 (mounted on left hand)

**Optional Modules**  
1)**Striker** pack  
2)**SIREN** (Simultaneous Interception Robust Engagement Network)  
c) Gamma  
Designed for atmospheric flight  
"Ungehindert" boosters with integrated missile launchers (high maneuverability missiles x 8) x 2  
"Starburst" Beam Chaff dispenser  
"Sturm Vogel" weapon platform  
_**(Resembles**_: Freedom)

**MVF-M11C-R Murasame (R – Revised) (Appearance : The Path of Destruction)****  
Manufacturer:**Morgenroete, Inc. (Modified by Sukhoi-Gurevich)  
**Users:**Cherubim, ORB  
**Unit type: **Modified general purpose transformable mobile suit  
**Head height: **17.96 meters  
**Weight:** 50.82 metric tons  
**OS:**Naturals Compatible OS  
**Powerplant:**  
Ultracompact hyper energy battery  
**Armament:**  
"Igelstellung II" 40mm multi-barrel CIWS x2  
M2M5D 12.5mm wing-mounted CIWS x4  
Type 70J Kai beam saber x 1  
MPG-5Z beam machine gun x 1  
Type 66A anti-air missile launcher x4  
AMREAD x 1 (optional)  
Shield x1  
_**(Resembles**__: a Murasame with a Windam's head)_

**SGF-03 "Merlin" (Appearance : Painful Choice)**  
**Manufacturer:**Earth Alliance Rogue Faction/ Sukhoi Gurevich  
**Users:**Butrous Cristien  
**Unit type: **Prototype reconnaissance mobile suit  
**Head height: **18.16 meters  
**Weight:** 91.18 metric tons  
**OS:**Naturals Compatible OS  
**Special equipment:**  
Anti HEAT Laminated Armor  
N-Jammer Canceller  
"Kfir" AWACS system  
"Starburst" Beam Chaff dispenser  
"Pathfinder" long range laser targeting system  
"Silent Scream" Communication Jamming System  
**Powerplant:**  
Ultracompact prototype nuclear fusion reactor  
**Armament:**  
Multi-barrel CIWS x2  
MPG–5Z beam machinegun x 1  
"Miles Tales" rear CIWS x 1  
MX2312 "Témoignage" beam shield x 1  
_**(Resembles**_: the police mobile suit in Patlabor)

**SGF-04 "Midnight" (Appearance : The Forced Hand)**  
**Manufacturer:**Earth Alliance Rogue Faction/ Sukhoi Gurevich  
**Users:**Yuri Sakazaki  
**Unit type: **Prototype assault mobile suit  
**Head height: **18.16 meters  
**Weight:** 85.71 metric tons  
**OS:**Naturals Compatible OS  
**Special equipment:**  
Anti HEAT Laminated Armor  
N-Jammer Canceller  
**Powerplant:**  
Ultracompact prototype nuclear fusion reactor  
**Armament:**  
Multi-barrel CIWS x 4,  
Long beam sword x 2  
"Romteknica" RBW Type 7001 beam knife x 2  
MPG-5Z beam machine gun x 1  
W3-E Missile pod ("Akula" fragmentation missiles x 1) x 2 (mounted on shoulder, folded to the back when not in use)  
MX2312 "Témoignage" beam shield x 1  
_**(Resembles**__: the police mobile suit in Patlabor)_

**SGF-01 "Marine" (Appearance : The Forced Hand)**  
**Manufacturer:**Earth Alliance Rogue Faction/ Sukhoi Gurevich  
**Users:**Nicholai Youseff  
**Unit type: **Prototype underwater assault mobile suit  
**Head height: **18.42 meters  
**Weight:** 87.71 metric tons  
**OS:**Naturals Compatible OS  
**Special equipment:**  
Anti HEAT Laminated Armor  
N-Jammer Canceller  
Pressure hull  
IR sensors  
Towed sonar  
Lorenzini sensors  
Ultra-low-light cameras  
Anchor  
**Powerplant:**  
Ultracompact prototype nuclear fusion reactor  
**Armament:**  
Multi-barrel CIWS x 2,  
DES-G07D anti-armor sword (set includes long and short swords) x 1  
MPG-5Z beam machine gun x 1  
"Poseidon V" torpedo launchers x 2  
Phonon maser high energy cannon x 1  
Shield x 1  
_**(Resembles**__: the police mobile suit in Patlabor)_

**SGF-02 "Maestro" (Appearance : The Forced Hand)**  
**Manufacturer:**Earth Alliance Rogue Faction/ Sukhoi Gurevich  
**Users:**Louise Iglesias, Vince Shatau  
**Unit type: **Prototype assault mobile suit  
**Head height: **18.16 meters  
**Weight:** 83.98 metric tons  
**OS:**Naturals Compatible OS  
**Special equipment:**  
Anti HEAT Laminated Armor  
N-Jammer Canceller  
"Tsalasah" integrated rocket storage and loading system (missiles x27).  
"Pathfinder" long range laser targeting system  
**Powerplant:**  
Ultracompact prototype nuclear fusion reactor  
**Armament:**  
Multi-barrel CIWS x4,  
"Romteknica" RBW Type 7001 beam knife x2  
Long beam sword x 1,  
W1-D "Rasputin" missile pod (missiles x9) x1 (mounted on right shoulder)  
MPG-5Z beam machinegun x 1  
MX2312 "Témoignage" beam shield x 1  
_**(Resembles**__: the police mobile suit in Patlabor)_

**GAT-X808 Buster MKII (Appearance : The beginning of a fall)**  
**Manufacturer:**Earth Alliance/ LOGOS  
**Users:**Seth Dramon  
**Unit type: **Prototype assault mobile suit  
**Head height: **18.32 meters  
**Weight:** 99.73 metric tons  
**OS:**Gressorial Unilateral Neuro-link Dominating Armor, Mechanised  
**Special equipment:**  
Phase Shift Armor,  
N-Jammer Canceller  
Bernoulli very long range radar  
**Powerplant:**  
Ultracompact nuclear fission reactor  
**Armament:**  
Galvanon Long Range Beam Rifle  
AT-07 Gauss Hyper Velocity Rifle  
57mm high-energy beam rifle x2  
"Igelstellung II" 40mm multi-barrel CIWS x2  
Long beam pike x 1,  
"Hauptmann" energy shield generator x 1  
_**(Resembles**__: Buster)_

**GAT-X818 Duel Kage (Appearance : The beginning of a fall)**  
**Manufacturer:**Earth Alliance/ LOGOS  
**Users:**Farah Igniz,  
**Unit type: **Prototype close range mobile suit  
**Head height: **18.56 meters  
**Weight:** 71.23 metric tons  
**OS:**Gressorial Unilateral Neuro-link Dominating Armor, Mechanised  
**Special equipment:**  
Phase Shift Armor,  
N-Jammer Canceller  
Orochi lightweight alloy  
**Powerplant:**  
Ultracompact nuclear fission reactor  
**Armament:**  
"Cougan Horn" beam CIWS x 2  
D-9 "Taming Sari" beam saber x 2  
57mm high-energy beam rifle x 2  
Mk315 "Stiletto" rocket-propelled anti-armor penetrator x 6  
"Hauptmann" energy shield generator x 2  
_**(Resembles**__: Duel)_

**ORB-00 Shizuka (Appearance : ORB's Whisper)**  
Manufacturer : Morgenroete, Inc  
Users: Cagalli Yula Attha, Mwu La Fllaga  
Unit Type: Prototype multi-role transformable mobile suit.  
Head height: 18.03 meters  
Weight: 40.03 metric tonnes (without combat modules)  
OS: Generalized Utility Nascent Development Atmospheric Maneuver  
Special equipments :  
Multiple Interactions Processing System (MIPS)  
Powerplant : Ultracompact energy system  
Armanent :  
M2M5D 12.5mm head-mounted CIWS x2,  
M2M5D 12.5mm wing-mounted CIWS x4,  
Type 73J2 dual-blade beam saber x1  
_**(Resembles : **__MSZ-006A1 (MSK-006) Ζ Plus A1_

**Combat modules**  
1)**A-01 Fujin**  
Type-73F Kai high energy beam cannon x2 (when in mobile suit mode, deploys on the shoulder)  
Type 72D5 "Hyakurai" beam rifle x1  
2 x boosters with integrated vector thrusters  
"Akatsuki" beam refraction system.  
2) **S-09 Raijin**  
Type M521 remote control unit (beam cannon x1, beam gun x2) x5  
Type 72D5 "Hyakurai" beam rifle x1  
Type F remote module computer  
Type M small shield with integrated lightwave shield generator  
3) **A-03 Bishamon**  
Type-73F Kai high energy beam cannon x2  
Type 72E "Zankaze" integrated beam rifle x 2  
Type 70L Beam blade x 2  
Type 91 "Arashi" countermeasures suite  
4) **W-04 Ryujin**  
Type 81 Torpedo launchers x 4  
Pressure hull (wrap around, prevents Shizuka from transforming into mobile suit mode)  
IR sensors  
Towed sonar  
Lorenzini sensors  
Ultra-low-light cameras  
Anchor  
Phonon maser high energy cannon x 2  
6) **S-08 Mikaboshi**  
Type 72D5 "Hyakurai" beam rifle x1  
Type-73F Kai high energy beam cannon x2  
Type M small shield with integrated lightwave shield generator x 1  
Type 91 "Arashi" countermeasures suite x 1

**Utility modules**  
1)**R-02 Uzume**  
1 x Type-87 winch  
1 x Rescue compartment  
2 x Remote controlled robot  
1 x Drill  
2) **R-06 Inari**  
1 x Deployable hospital  
3) **RC -07 Hachiman**  
Type P lightwave shield generator, (able to project a 200m diameter shield)  
Integrated battery reserve  
Type 72-C Kai "Ikazuchi" beam rifle x1,  
4) **G-05 Ohkami**  
3 x Infrared sensors  
1 x Doppler radar  
3 x hyper zoom camera  
1 x ISO 20000 video camera  
5) **C-10 Koyane**  
Type 101-Z Advanced radar dome.  
Type 103 Integrated communication suite.  
Type 66A "Hayate" air-to-air missile launcher x4,  
Type 72 Kai "Ikazuchi" beam rifle (compact version) x1,  
Type M small shield with integrated lightwave shield generator

**GAT-X828 Calamity Aegis (Appearance : Humanity's unwanted Answer)****  
Manufacturer:**Earth Alliance/ LOGOS  
**Users:**Jack Meadow  
**Unit type: **Prototype siege mobile suit  
**Head height: **19.01 meters  
**Weight:** 93.11 metric tons  
**OS:**Gressorial Unilateral Neuro-link Dominating Armor, Mechanised  
**Special equipment:**  
Phase Shift Armor,  
N-Jammer Canceller  
**Powerplant:**  
Ultracompact nuclear fission reactor  
**Armament:**  
2 x "Scylla 2" 600mm multi-phase energy cannon (shoulder mounted, deployable in mobile suit or siege mode)  
Uxiel rapid fire beam rifle x 2 (becomes part of weaponry in siege mode)  
"Igelstellung II" 40mm multi-barrel CIWS x 4  
D-9 "Taming Sari" beam saber x 2  
"Hauptmann" energy shield generator x 1  
_**(Resembles**__: a cross between Calamity and Aegis)_

**ZGMF-X201S Crusader (Appearance: Bloodied Chessboard)**  
**Manufacturer:**Integrated Design Bureau, ZAFT  
**Users:**Heine Westenfluss  
**Unit type: **Prototype close combat mobile suit  
**Head height: **18.15 meters  
**Weight:** 72.73 metric tons  
**OS** Geration Unsubdued Nulear Drive Assault Module  
**Special equipment:**  
Phase Shift Armor  
**Powerplant:**  
Ultracompact hyper-dueterion nuclear reactor  
**Armament:**  
MMI-GAU26 17.5mm CIWS x 2,  
MA-916AV – Phoenix Tail heat whip x 1  
MA-916AX – "Highlander" Energy shield generator x 2  
MA-BAR72D high-energy beam rifle x 2  
ZR20E high explosive grenade x 4  
_**(Resembles**__: Epyon – Gundam Wing)_

**ZGMF-X700S Spectre (Appearance : Hell in Heaven)**  
**Manufacturer:**Integrated Design Bureau, ZAFT  
**Users:**Helmi Azri  
**Unit type: **Prototype special operation mobile suit  
**Head height: **18.05 meters  
**Weight:** 84.42 metric tons  
**OS** Special custom OS  
**Special equipment:**  
MVFX-02 "Dark Phase" stealth system.  
**Powerplant:**  
Ultracompact hyper-duetrion nuclear reactor  
**Armament:**  
MMI-GAU26 17.5mm CIWS x 4  
MA-M941 "Vajra" beam saber x 1  
MX2351 "Solidus Fulgor" beam shield x 1  
MA-BAR76T high-energy beam rifle x1  
MA-BAR98Z RPG Launcher x 1 (Launches ZR-series grenades)  
EQFU-10A "Clark" missile pod (AGM141 "Firefly" guided missile x 8) x 6, mounted on legs.  
_**(Resembles**__: Zaku III – Zeta Gundam )_

**ZGMF-X232S Valkyrie (Appearance : Hell in Heaven)**  
**Manufacturer:**Integrated Design Bureau, ZAFT  
**Users:**Kang Tsung Hui  
**Unit type: **Prototype massive engagement mobile suit  
**Head height: **22.87 meters  
**Weight:** 128.73 metric tons  
**OS** Geration Unsubdued Nulear Drive Assault Module  
**Special equipment:**  
Phase Shift Armor.  
"RadeoForce" Multiple targets acquiring system.  
**Powerplant:**  
Ultracompact hyper-duetrion nuclear reactor  
**Armament:**  
MMI-GAU26 17.5mm CIWS x 4  
MA-M941 "Vajra" beam saber x 1  
"Ramrod" gun pod (MMI-M826 "Hydra" beam gatling cannon x 3, MX2351 "Solidus Fulgor" beam shield x 1) x 1, (mounted on the left hand)  
MX2351 "Solidus Fulgor" beam shield x 1 (mounted on right hand)  
"Krogoth" high power twin barrel beam rifle x 1  
EQFU-9Z "Heidern" missile pod (AGM152 "Firewasp" guided missile x 9 ) x2, mounted on shoulders.  
EQFU-10A "Clark" missile pod (AGM141 "Firefly" guided missile x 12) x 6, mounted on legs.  
EQFU-12F "Ralf" missile pod (AGM141 "Firefly" guided missile x 4) x 2, mounted on hips.  
_**(Resembles**__: Heavy Arms – Gundam Wing)_

**GAT-105U Strike Lance (Appearance : Doppelganger)****  
Manufacturer:**Earth Alliance  
**Users:**Thomas Spencer  
**Unit type: **Prototype multi-role  
**Head height: **17.01 meters  
**Weight:** 85.11 metric tons  
**OS:**General Unilateral Neuro - Link Dispersive Autonomic Maneuver  
**Special equipment:**  
Phase Shift Armor,  
**Powerplant:**  
Ultracompact battery  
**Armament:**  
M2M5 "Todesschrecken" 12.5mm CIWS x2  
M8F-HB7 "Tombak Sakti" beam rifle, reconfigurable into hyper output mode x 1

**LANCE Striker (Land, Aerial, Naval, Cosmic engagement)**  
phonon maser cannon, mounted on backpack x1  
rocket anchor, mounted on backpack x 1  
linear rail gun, hip mounted, x 2  
MR-Q15 "Scuttleboard" anti-ship beam blades x 2  
"Starburst" Beam Chaff dispenser x 1  
_**(Resembles**__: Strike)_

**GAT- 207U Blitz Nacht (Appearance : Doppelganger)****  
Manufacturer:**Earth Alliance  
**Users:**Abdulhasiz Karimov  
**Unit type: **Prototype stealth and melee  
**Head height: **18.72 meters  
**Weight:** 82.20 metric tons  
**OS:**General Unilateral Neuro - Link Dispersive Autonomic Maneuver  
**Special equipment:**  
Phase Shift Armor,  
Mirage Colloid  
**Powerplant:**  
Ultracompact battery  
**Armament:**  
"Trikeros SDU" offense/defense system ( 60mm high-energy beam rifle x 1, shield x 1) x1, mounted on right arm  
Rocket anchor x 1, mounted on left hand.

**Nacht Striker**  
"Starburst" Beam Chaff dispenser x 1  
Rocket anchor x 3  
_**(Resembles**__: Blitz)_

**ZGMF-X16X Fallen NOVA – (Appearance : Doppelganger)**  
**Manufacturer:**Rebuilt by Sukhoi-Gurevich  
**Users:**Fllay Allster  
**Unit type: **Specialist assault mobile suit  
**Head height: **18.21 meters  
**Weight:** 75.24 metric tons (with Beta module)  
**OS:**Gyro-linked Uni-view Navigation Dispersive Agile Maneuver  
**Special equipment:**  
360X2 Direct Brain Feedback system  
"Vue Divine" sensor array  
"Tereshkova" gyro-linked cockpit system  
High heat resistance armor  
"Plume de lune" vector overboost system  
**Powerplant:**  
Ultracompact prototype nuclear fusion reactor  
**Armament:**  
MMI-GAU2 "Picus" 76mm CIWS x 2,  
MMI-777S Seitenwaffe small anti-ship beam sword x 2,  
MX2312 "Témoignage" beam shield x 2 (mounted on left hand)  
MPG-252 Beam Machine Gun  
Mk317b "Tsubame" rocket-propelled anti-armor beam penetrator x 6 (3 underneath each wrist, unusable unless the armor covering the compartment is ejected)  
_**(Resembles**_: Freedom)

**Optional Modules  
**1) Hyper Siren  
6 x SGW-1012 "Zwiling Lanze II" twin DRAGOON  
6 x SGP-5122 "AURORA" 

**ZGMF-X56Sv Impulse Gundam (Appearance : The end of war's reign)**  
**Manufacturer**: Integrated Design Bureau  
**User**: Lunamaria Hawke  
**Unit type: **Prototype multi-mode mobile suit  
**Head height**: overall height 17.76 meters  
**Weight**: 63.54 metric tons  
**OS:**Generation Unrestricted Network Drive Assault Module  
**Special equipment**:  
Variable Phase Shift (VPS) armor  
Deuterion beam energy supply system,allows for remote recharging of energy with battleship Minerva;  
Hardpoints for mounting Silhouette packs  
**Powerplant**: ultracompact energy battery, power output rating unknown  
**Armaments :  
**2 x MMI-GAU25A 20mm CIWS, fire-linked, mounted in chest  
2 x M71-AAK "Folding Razor" anti-armor knife, stored in hip armor, hand-carried in use;  
MMI-RG59V mobile shield, mounted on left arm

**56Sv (Nu) Crush Silhouette**  
2 x M73-BRW "Mavica-T" offense/defense system (40mm x1 beam rifle, beam blade x 1)  
MMI-M826 "Hydra" beam gatling cannon x 1  
MMI-LGI "Penny Farthing" 60mm linear cannon x 1

**GAT-4EX Super Windam (Appearance : Future)**  
**Manufacturer:**LOGOS (Earth Alliance)  
**Users:**Naturals  
**Unit type: **mass production high performance multi-mode mobile suit  
**Head height: **21.12  
**Weight:** 76.65 metric tons.  
**OS:**Naturals compatible  
**Special equipment:**  
sensors, range unknown;  
hardpoints for mounting various Earth Alliance mobile suits' weaponries.  
split piloting and gunnery  
panoramic display  
chest-mounted lightwave barrier  
**Powerplant:**  
Ultracompact battery  
**Armament:**  
4 x M2M5 "Todesschrecken" 12.5mm automatic CIWS, fire-linked, mounted in head;  
2 x ES04B beam saber, mounted on hips, hand-carried in use;  
1 x M9409L beam rifle,  
1 x M9509S beam short gun.

**ZGMF-X16X Fallen NOVA – (NOVA – New Over Architecture, Appearance ?)**  
**Manufacturer:**Rebuilt by Sukhoi-Gurevich  
**Users:**Fllay Allster  
**Unit type: **Specialist assault mobile suit  
**Head height: **17.30 meters  
**Weight:** 46.24 metric tons. (Alpha module equipped)  
**OS:**Gyro-linked Uni-view Navigation Dispersive Agile Maneuver  
**Special equipment:**  
360X2 Direct Brain Feedback system  
"Vue Divine" sensor array  
"Tereshkova" gyro-linked cockpit system  
"Plume de lune" vector overboost system  
Lightweight armor  
**Powerplant:**  
Ultracompact prototype nuclear fusion reactor  
**Armament:**  
MMI-GAU2 "Picus" 76mm CIWS x 2,  
MMI-777S Seitenwaffe small beam sword x 2,  
MX2312 "Témoignage" beam shield x 1 (mounted on left hand)  
MPG-252 Beam machinegun  
Mk317b "Tsubame" rocket-propelled anti-armor beam penetrator x 6 (3 underneath each wrist)

**UNT-X1X Guardian NOVA – (NOVA – New Over Architecture)**  
**Manufacturer:** UNITY Design Bureau  
**Users:** Kira Yamato  
**Unit type:** Prototype High Mobility Mobile Suit  
**Head height:** 18.29 meters  
**Weight:** 78.24 metric tons.  
**OS:** Gyro-linked Uni-view Navigation Dispersive Agile Maneuver  
**Special equipment:**  
360X2 Direct Brain Feedback system  
"Vue Divine" sensor array  
"Tereshkova" gyro-linked cockpit system  
"Plume de lune" vector overboost system  
Phase Shift armor  
N-Jammer Canceller  
**Powerplant:**  
Ultracompact Stabilized Fussion Reactor  
**Armament:**  
M2M5 "Todesschrecken" 12.5mm CIWS x2, head mounted  
MPG 373 beam rifle x 1, stored on back  
MMI-777S Seitenwaffe small beam sword x 2, combinable  
MX2400 beam generator x 2  
DRU-1D "Zwiling Lanze II" x 4  
DRU-1B "AURORA III" X 4

* * *

1

* * *

**Name:Cherubim(Appearance : The Song of War)****  
Commander:**Igor Barzhakov  
**Ship Type :**Special Operation Assault ship  
**Class:** Cherubim  
**Launched:** 23 September C.E. 71  
**Manufacturer**: Earth Alliance/ Sukhoi-Gurevich Design Bureau  
**Operator:** Earth Alliance(Eurasian Federation) / Rogue EA Faction  
**Ships of Class**: Cherubim  
General Characteristics  
**Displacement**: Unknown  
**Length:** 340 meters  
**Beam:** 80 meters  
**Wingspan:** 40 meters (delta shaped)  
**Propulsion:** thermonuclear pulse thruster x 8  
**Armor:** laminated armor, unknown thickness  
**MA/MS Capacity**:12  
**Linear Catapult**:2  
**Special Equipment**:  
Shadow Dancer Stealth System  
N-Jammer Canceller  
**Armament:**  
"Gottfried Mk.71" 225cm dual high-energy beam cannon x 6 (4 at bow, 2 at stern)  
"Valiant Mk.8" 110cm linear cannon x 2 (on linear catapults' side)  
"Igelstellung" 75mm automatic multi-barrel CIWS x 16  
Large missile launcher x 8  
Surface-to-air missile launcher (Helldart) x 16  
Anti-beam depth charge launcher x 4  
**Special Weapons**  
"Akula" fragmentation missiles x 24 (catapult launched)  
"Stalin" long range nuclear missiles x 4 (catapult launched)

Cherubim's conception was mooted when the Eurasian Federation learned about its North Atlantic Federation's secret plan to develop a new class of assault ship. Due to the secrecy of North Atlantic's Federation project, its counterpart has no information regarding the design of the ship, and thus decided to use Nelson-class ship as a base design. Sukhoi-Gurevich Design Bureau, a very respected manufacturer whose prestige was overshadowed by Morgenroete, designed Cherubim. The name Cherubim was given to ship because it was to be Eurasian's own version of Archangel, not because it belongs to Archangel-class classification.

Initially, the ship was designed to be a heavy gunship, armed with heavy weaponry while having the capacity to carry a substantial amount of mobile suits or mobile armors. But, the designation was changed halfway because of two reasons. First, during the first between Naturals and Coordinators, ZAFT launched an attack on Alaska Base in Operation "Spitbreak". The Earth Alliance commanders at the base decided to use Cyclops system to destroy the invading army. Cyclops System's activation has wiped out almost 80 of ZAFT's forces stationed on Earth. However, the activation was carried out by those from North Atlantic Federation without informing their Eurasion Federation counterpart. Most of the security forces left at the base that were decimated by Cyclops were from Eurasion Federation. As a result, there was a political tension between the two. In order to prevent the rift forming between the two powerful coalition partners, Azrael Industries and North Atlantic Federation decided to share some technology secrets with Eurasian Federation.

Azrael Industries also gave away some parts from an incomplete Archangel-class ship, widely believed to be designated as Seraphim. The conglomerate, unaware of Eurasian's ongoing plan, thought that the "gifts" to compensate the loss of Eurasian Federation's force during operation "Spitbreak" would be of no use to the Federation because it couldn't do much with them. However, Sukhoi-Gurevich managed to adapt and fitted most of them to Cherubim whose construction had only started. In fact, one of the most important problems the engineers at the Bureau faced was the design of the linear catapult on the ship. The problem was solved by attaching the two linear catapults from Azrael Industries on its sides, at the midsection of the ship.

Another reason that influenced Cherubim's re-designation to special operation was Eurasian's success in stealing information on Mirage Colloid. After reverse engineering the technology, it managed to derive a better system. Named 'Shadow Dancer', it was decided to fit the experimental panels on the ship. An improvement over Mirage Colloid, it uses silicon polymer panels that contains the micro prisms in Mirage Colloid. However, it consumes large amount of energy when activated. This was solved in Cherubim by nuclear power generation. Its other drawbacks include Cherubim not being able to use many of its weaponry when the system is running, because the heat they will produce will damage it. The only weapons that can be used while in this mode of operation are those that can be launched via catapult. Since the panels will reflect all kind of wave radiation, active sensors such as radars are also unusable.

Compared to Mirage Colloid, the level of stealth achieved normally wouldn't achieve 100, with probability of detection increased to 50 when a ship or a mobile suit is about 1 kilometer from ship using the system. The size of the system and the storage needed for spare Shadow Dancer panels also made it impossible to fit Cherubim with any positron cannons like found on Archangel, Izumo-class battleship and Minerva. Despite that, the Shadow Dancer system made Cherubim a force to reckon with.

Overall, Cherubim looked like a bigger Nelson battleship, with linear catapults located at its sides and Archangel's weapons. To enable it to fly on while earth, it has delta wings, placed below the linear catapult. The flat part resembling whale teeth that can be found in front of all Nelson-class ship was also removed, while the 'nose' segment was slightly modified to have narrow bottom and wider top. Also, the cannon turret underneath the ship was removed. These modifications were made to enable the ship to move better while on water. It carries similar weapons to those found on Archangel, except for the 'Akula' and 'Stalin' it carries onboard.

The ship was finally completed a few days before Second Jachin Due Battle. Commandeered by the famed Igor Barzhakov, its maiden mission was to go to PLANT's Aprilius and destroy the capital with its four nuclear missiles. However, it went missing, presumably destroyed in battle. It was purportedly sighted in Siberian desert, but the sightings were unconfirmed. Further efforts to reproduce ships with similar capabilities or utilizing the Shadow Dancer stealth system were hampered when the hanger that produced Cherubim was destroyed in a freak explosion.

**Name : McArthur, Rommel, Yamashita**  
**Commander**: Laura Hardy, Norisman Liendy, Dennis Longman (respectively)  
**Ship Type **: Heavy Assault Battleship  
**Class**: Girty Lue (Modified)  
**Launched**: unknown date, C.E. 74  
**Manufacturer**: Earth Alliance (Atlantic Federation)  
**Ships of Class**: Girty Lue  
General Characteristics  
**Displacement**: Not available  
**Length**: 380 meters  
**Beam**: 80 meters  
**Wingspan**: none  
**Propulsion**: thermonuclear pulse thruster x 8  
**Armor**: laminated armor, unknown thickness  
**MA/MS Capacity**: 10  
**Linear Catapult**: 4  
**Special Equipment**: N-Jammer Canceller  
Rocket Anchor  
**Armament**: "Gottfried Mk.71" 225cm dual high-energy beam cannon x 10 (6 at bow, 4 at stern)  
"Igelstellung" 75mm automatic multi-barrel CIWS x 16  
Vertical missile launcher x 20  
Surface-to-air missile launcher x 20  
Anti-beam depth charge launcher x 8  
Launchable missile racks (missiles x 320) x 2 (McArthur, Rommel)  
Tactical Razing Ammunition, Mass Propagation Land Expungers x 8 (Yamashita)

**INDIVIDUAL WEAPON GLOSSARY**

Akatsuki Beam Refraction System

Realizing that if war ever breaks out in the future, beam weaponry will be used extensively, ORB began to research on technologies to negate them. A fruitful result of these is the Akatsuki Beam Defraction System. It uses superheated ionized gas to produce a glowing field around a mobile suit it was equipped on. This glowing plasma field reacts with most radiation waves produced beam weaponry to refract them. As a result, the mobile suit is almost 'invincible' against such weaponry. However, the system could overload if the mobile suit is fired upon continuously; in hands of a capable pilot, this is an unlikely scenario. Also, Akatsuki couldn't protect against beam swords and knives as such weaponries have highly focused energy. The plasma system also has a secondary function which is to reduce drag force acting on the mobile suit in atmospheric flight, improving its overall agility.

AMREAD (Air Medium Ranged, Energy Armor Disrupter

A very special EMP missile, it is designed to disrupt any kind of protection utilizing energy barrier. That includes, but not limited to Phase Shift, Trans Phase and Variable Phase armor. It can also render Mirage Colloid and Shadow Dancer cloaking systems inoperable for a long time, making it a perfect weapon against ships that used the systems. But since the missile lacks maneuverability, it's more effective for static or slow moving target. The missile is developed after the Second Jachin Due battle when it is learned that ZAFT protected its weapon of mass destruction GENESIS with Mirage Colloid and Trans Phase armor.

AT-07 Gauss Hyper Velocity Rifle 

Gauss rifle is designed earlier than Galvanon rifle. Derived from GAT-X103 Buster's combined rifle, it contained a very powerful magnetic coil that can spin and propel a 92.3 mm depleted uranium shell at high speed out of its barrel. Since the bullet is suspended in the middle of barrel by magnetic force, the rifle doesn't suffer much from recoil effect and wear to its barrel. It has a shorter range than its Galvanon counterpart, having an effective range of 20 kilometer. Despite that shortcoming, it can penetrate even the very strong armor like those found on Minerva and Archangel when fired from a 2 kilometer range.

AURORA(Autonomous Units Rapid Orbital Radiation Assimilators)

AURORA is an energy shield version of DRAGOON. Triangular in shape, it's effective when deployed in a group. An AURORA unit can provide protection from beams and projectiles for up to five minutes before needing to recharge. The units can also be combined in a group of five to form a shield strong enough to absorb a positron cannon beam. It is suggested that if the quantity of the units being used is large enough, the units can form a very large energy wall. However, like DRAGOON, a pilot with a very vast spatial awareness is needed to control them.

Cougan Horn Beam CIWS

The first close interception weapon system to use beam based weaponry, Cougan Horn is lethal against mobile suits that got close enough, including those that are equipped with Phase Shift armor. Its only weakness compared to other systems that utilized machineguns is the low firing rate.

Dark Phase Stealth System

Dark Phase is actually jamming system that prevents enemy mobile suits from locking into it. Although it doesn't turn the mobile suit using it invisible like Mirage Colloid, it can be engaged for a long time. A mobile suit that is armed with this system will be dangerous to all but the most skillful pilots. This is because the only way to defeat such mobile suit is by manually targeting it.

Delimiter 360D Perception System

The system consists of two subsystems, the 360D Display systems and Neural Overclocker.

1) 360D Display system is designed because of it is decided that a pilot should always be able to access his available surrounding, including behind him. The pilot could accomplish that by turning the mobile suit, but that would be a waste pf time. Another alternative is for the cockpit to be designed to have screens all around the pilot, like the one found on X-1 Destroy. However, in a normal size mobile suit, it would be impractical and useless, because the cockpit would have to be larger than it's supposed to be. The 360D system solve this problem by putting a translucent display on the pilot's helmet, allowing the pilot to see more than one view at the same time. It also detects the movement of the head to indicate where the pilot wanted to see and show the correct view accordingly.

2) The Neural Overclocker is a computer is designed to monitor a pilot's brain and predicts what the pilot will be doing based on the brainwaves recorded. Thus, it will increase the accuracy and precision of the move being made, because the computer will recalculate what the system has predicted and what the pilot is really doing and adjusted the response accordingly. Nueral Overclocker also features feedback where the computer will help stimulate the pilot's brain so that he will be able to feel the changes being made and if needed, act accordingly. The use of this system allows a novice pilot to have a capability almost equal or more than a veteran pilot. However, due to the feedback, he will be more prone to hallucinations.

Galvanon Long Range Beam Rifle

The beam rifle is designed for very long range firing, capable of firing accurately at a target 100 kilometers away in space, well outside mobile suits' and some ships' radar range. Since the rifle has a bigger muzzle than a normal beam rifle and is more powerful, a direct hit on a mobile suit would almost guarantee its destruction. However, due to its power and increased range, the rifle needed a huge amount of power, something a normal battery powered mobile suit cannot provide. It also suffers from excessive heat generation and long recharging time. The heat problem is solved by using coolant cartridge similar to MPG-131. As for its long recharging time, it wouldn't be a problem as long the mobile suit firing the rifle quickly move after firing a shot to prevent enemies from pinpointing its location.

Highlander Energy Shield Generator

Highlander isn't any different from other energy shield generators fitted on mobile suit in shielding capacity. What makes it special is that the Phoenix Tail could be attached to a special port on it to enable the heat whip function to be used. Using Phoenix Tail in this configuration also allows the mobile suit the use of its two hands for combat.

Herausfordernd Engel Weapon Platform

Herausfordernd Engel is a very flexible weapon platform, able to be equipped with many kinds of ZAFT weapons. Subsequent revision allowed it to carry Earth Alliance and Orb's weaponry as well. It can also function as a shield, as its embedded positron deflector provided it with excellent protection properties. The built-in thrusters allow independent flight for a short duration.

Juxtaposed Energy Broadcast Assault Transmitter (JEBAT)

The normal approach to build super weapon for a ship is to equip it with one or two very powerful positron cannon. This approach has the unfortunate side effect of the very long firing cycle of such cannon. JEBAT circumvent such restriction by utilizing an array of battleship grade green beam cannons. The array consists of seven groups, with each group containing seven independently guided cannons, bringing the total to forty nine. Upon full charge, the weapon could fire twenty times, enough to destroy most small fleet.

MIPS (Multiple Interaction Processing System)

This is a very advanced computer developed by ORB engineers under the auspice of Nuzumi Yula Attha for use in newer mobile suits. The computer system utilizes a combination of visual image processing, thermal recognition and radar signature characterization to pinpoint an object and hence respond to it appropriately. While its initial intent was for peaceful purposes, such as making out landmarks in geographic survey or finding a person in a rescue mission, it was used, unmodified for ORB-00. The MIPS controls the mobile suit's CIWS to react against hostile missiles and projectiles, allowing its pilot to concentrate on more important matters.

MPG (Maschine Physik Gewehr) - 131 three-barrels beam machine gun

Developed by ZAFT because of Eurasian's Zastava Stigmate RFW-99 beam machine guns' success on battlefields, it has three rotating barrels to allow a higher rate of firing. Such weapons normally suffer from two problems, namely overheating and high power drain. It solves the first problem by incorporating a coolant tank inside the machine gun to cool the beam barrels and laser emitters. In space, the weapon also needs to be attached to a coolant magazine, with cartridges containing solid CO2 to help cool the system even more in absence of air. It's the second problem that caused MPG-131 to be dropped in favor of normal beam rifle found on ZAFT's mobile suits such as ZAKU and GOUF. Unlike Zastava, the weapon has no battery magazine, drawing its power from the mobile suit's battery. Two minutes of non stop firing would deplete almost 3/4 of a battery operated mobile suit's power reserve.

MPG (Maschine Physik Gewehr) - 5Z Beam Machine Gun

A compact version of MPG-131, it only has one beam barrel. However, its rate of firing is on par with MPG-131. It has two magazine intakes, one for power and one for coolant. This allows it to be used by battery operated mobile suits. A power cord also allows it to be connected directly to the mobile suit's power reserve, which makes it also suitable for nuclear powered mobile suits. Due to the compacted internal mechanism, it doesn't have a dampening mechanism that is as effective as the one on MPG-131. As a result the weapon has high recoil when firing. In order to fire accurately, the mobile suit must hold it with two hands.

Pathfinder long range laser targeting system

Its application is being utilized before Cosmic Era, the laser targeting system fell out of favor with the introduction of satellite-based pinpointing and other methods. However, with ZAFT dropping N-Jammers all over the world, blocking radio transmissions, Eurasian Federation modified some of their weaponry to work with laser targeting. The Pathfinder system consists of 16 laser pointers that can target up to 12 targets simultaneously in its 170 degrees sight

Phoenix Tail Heat Whip

At a first glance, the weapon looks like it is made from metallic feathers being joined together to form a long chain. When it's heated, it turns orange in color, hot enough to melt many kind of armor, including Phase Shift armor. Combined with its long range, the weapon is very dangerous.

RadeoForce multiple targets acquiring system

RadeoForce allows acquisition of up to 32 multiple targets simultaneously by the mobile suit that uses it. Although multiple targeting can also be done by systems on advanced mobile suits such as Freedom, Justice and Fallen, only RadeoForce has the capability guide missiles to their respective targets without further pilot intervention. This allows the pilot to concentrate on other tasks.

SAPPER (Single Attack Portable PEnetrator Rocket)

Although ORB has a small army size and had to depend on its technological edge to fight, it still invests on its army weaponry. SAPPER is a visually guided anti armor missile that can either be equipped with tandem charge High Explosive Anti Tank (HEAT) to defeat armor or High Explosive Squashed Head (HESH) warhead to blast through bunkers. Unlike other portable ATGM carried used by other army, SAPPER requires the use of a separate guidance designator, normally positioned away from the launcher. The guidance unit allows the missile to be guided either through visual, thermal or automatic guidance and can be changed during flight. SAPPER is only effective against land-based and low-flying mobile suits, although the use of CIWS on certain mobile suit models reduce it even more.

Shadow Dancer stealth cloaking

Shadow Dancer is an improvement over Mirage Colloid. Instead of using gaseous solution to deflect light, the system used a thin layer of silicon polymer imbedded with the micro prisms used in Mirage Colloid. The result was that anything that uses the system could remain unseen for a very long time. However, the system uses a lot of energy and beam based weapons cannot be used when the system was activated, as it would damage the system. Besides that, the silicon polymer could easily be damaged, affecting the ship's stealth ability.

Silent Scream Communication Jamming System

Silent Scream, carried by SGF-03 Merlin, is capable of disrupting any kind of airwaves communication. While laser-based communication can be utilized by most ships to communicate while under this kind of jamming, the difficulty in getting the lasers aligned correctly made the jamming quite adequate.

SIREN (Simultaneous Interception Robust Engagement Network)

SIREN, designed to be multi purpose attack platform for Fallen is designed loosely on the Providence's DRAGOON platform, under Patrick Zala's directive. Unlike Providence which is designed to be operational in space, Fallen's versatility is emphasized even when it is still a concept. Originally, SIREN was designed to be equipped with 16 DRAGOON pods. But because of the Junius Seven treaty, the construction was put on hold. When Terrence defected to Cherubim, he brought along the schematic for it. However, due to unavailability of certain parts that can only be found on PLANTS, it undergone numerous modifications. It comes in three configurations, alpha, beta and gamma; each module suited for particular battle field.

Starburst Energy Chaff dispenser

A unique counter measure combining the best of chaffs, flares and anti beam mines, Starburst system creates a field containing small and lightweight beam emitters. It is effective enough to stop many kinds of projectiles and weaken the strength of beam shots.

Storm Vogel Weapon Platform 

Resembling like the ancient F-22 Raptor without a cockpit, Sturm Vogel provided the mobile suit it is equipped with superb aerial maneuverability in Earth atmosphere. It can also be fitted with numerous kinds of weapons, similar to its Herausfordernd Engel counterpart.

Tactical Razing Ammunition, Mass Propagation Land Expungers

This weapon is a very large scale cluster bomb, designed to be dropped from orbit to the target. Because the bomb will cover wide area, it's quite effective enough to replace carpet bombing. Once it enters the atmosphere, it will release payload of 2,000 independent munitions. Each one of them is potent enough to damage a normal mobile suit.

Zwiling Lanze pods

Developed earlier than the Super DRAGOON found on Strike Freedom, a Zwiling Lanze consisted of two elongated DRAGOON units being connected together. When it is joined to a AURORA unit, the whole thing resembles a gunbarrel like those found on Exxas. Besides being a recharge station for the Zwiling Lanze, the AURORA unit also provides protection to it. The Zwiling Lanze main weakness is that it has only two laser nozzles, one on each unit.

**Translation**

Bozhe moi (Russian)- My godEngel- Angel  
Gewehr- Rifle (gun)  
Herausfordernd - ?  
Maschine - Automatic (machine)  
Physik - Laser  
Seitenwaffe – Side arm  
Sturm- Storm  
Témoignage (French) - Testimony  
Ungehindert- Unhindered  
Vogel- Bird  
Vue divine (French) – Divine View


	2. Disturbed slumber

**Disclaimer**

Gundam SEED and Gundam SEED Destiny belong to their respective owners. . The arrangement of the chapter(s) will be in a book form if it is manifested in physicall form, so this disclaimer apply to any documents that precede and succeed this statement and this documents, either physically, choronogically, physically and logically. So please read and respect the rights of the respective owners. The laws in differing countries differs, so please understand the disclaimer according to the law in your country.

* * *

1

* * *

**Fallen Angel **

**Cosmic Era 72**

A lab assistant was floating excitedly toward a bespectacled scientist. He was smiling as he stopped in front of him. "We have finally succeeded, Professor Zyglene!" he exclaimed. "We have finally succeeded!"

The man called Zyglene adjusted his spectacle, a habit he formed whenever he was confronted with something big. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"We have finally revived one of them!"

"WHAT!" Zyglene shook his assistant's shoulders excitedly. "Tell me again! I want to hear it again!"

"Subject F427185 have regained consciousness"

Zyglene laughed maniacally. "We have become gods! Who would have thought we Naturals would have achieved this first rather than those Coordinators bastards!" He paused and thought for a few seconds grinned. "Those bigwigs at Pentagon will be very eager to shove more money for this project"

"Yes, of course, professor. After all, if we succeeded in improving the revival technique, we would have an inexhaustible supply of biological CPU's to pilot the Earth Alliance's mobile suits. Maybe we can even use dead Coordinators to fight against their own kind"

"Ah. That will be a bitter irony to them. By the way, subject F427185 is a Natural or a Coordinator?"

His assistant hesitated to answer the question. "Well, according to the preliminary data, the subject is a Natural, hence the final number in the serial being an odd number" He scratched his back head. "However, we have detected anomalies in her brainwave reading"

"Show me"

* * *

Subject F427185 was completely submerged inside the tank, as naked as the day she was born. A breathing apparatus was connected to her mouth, sustaining her breathing. Despite the indecent position she was in, she couldn't do anything to prevent her from being treated like a lab specimen. So, helpless to do anything, she could only thing about what had happened before she woke up inside the tank. She could recall it vividly, as she had somehow recorded the final moments of her life in her mind. 

_Suddenly there was a hole puncturing the craft. Then she saw a small spark at the console. It happened very fast, but she saw what happened. The spark being nourished by oxygen became bigger, turning the whole place into a fireball in less than three seconds. It was very fast, but yet, like looking at a video in small motion, she could see it creeping toward her, with her not doing anything but look. When the mixture of the hot and combusting gas threw her from her seat, she felt strangely calm. Like she knew that she would die. And despite popular opinion, she felt that maybe death would be better for her. With death she would be free of all the burdens, sins and scars she carried in her heart._

_But just before the large looming flame extinguished her life's spark, a thought crossed her mind. _

Zyglene watched at the woman in the tank with fascination. "So you tell me that somehow being dead caused her to change?" he asked.

"Yes. PET scan revealed that when her body was undergoing the regeneration treatment, the majority part of her brain showed a very signifant growth in dendrite connections. I believe it has to do with her body trying to keep itself alive"

"But we have never seen such thing. It's impossible"

"And like you say, we're the first to succeed in resurrecting a dead person. Isn't that impossible?"

"Of course. I see what you mean"

His assistant typed something on the keyboard and data began pouring out on the monitor screen. "Increased in retinal sensitivity. Improved results in the coordination and reflex clinical test. Five fold spatial awareness. Unexplained limited regenerative ability"

"So you're telling me that she's a coordinator now?"

"That's not too far off sir, although by normal standard, she has some of the Coordinators' capabilities. In some cases, she even exceeded them"

"But? Surely there are some drawbacks"

"Nothing significant at this time, except that she may retain part of her memories, and I'm afraid that she maybe immune from the memory reprogramming treatment we give our biological CPU's. And even if we succeeded, there is a risk that she will revert to normal, if her current abilities are caused by her thoughts"

"Ah. I see, you think that the extreme trauma she experienced before dying has somehow made her more sensitive. It couldn't be helped, isn't it? Whenever we humans are faced with a life threatening situation, our brains will make us experience everything in slow motion, so we can react better to future threats, if we live. Have we managed to duplicate the lab conditions that brought her back to live?"

"We're running through some permutations. In some cases, we're only able to cause their bodies to repair themselves fully"

"So we have new corpses instead old ones? Not good enough. Keep running those tests. I want a live subject that we can operate on"

"How about her?"

"Out of question. The military wants us to continue training her to become an ACCURSED pilot. Ah, to lose a perfect specimen" Zyglene smiled lecherously toward the woman in the tank who looked back emotionlessly. "But thanks to her, we have enough funding to even build our own space colony if we succeed. Earth Alliance must be very anxious"

The lab assistant nodded. Apart from doing research on reviving dead soldiers, the space laboratory also served as experiment centre for ACCURSED project. Even more secretive than the biological CPUs, the acronym stood for Anti Coordinator Combat Upgraded Response & Sensory Enhanced Deacon, Earth Alliance's ultimate project to develop the ultimate pilot.

* * *

Her eyes darted at the targets on the screen and two seconds later all of them were. destroyed. Then an alarm caused her to glance to the screen to her left. Another target was destroyed. Even as she sat in the simulator, shooting pixilated GINNS and other Zaft's war machines, her mind wondered why she was doing it. Why she was alive? And why she was training to kill Coordinators? She wasn't even fighter pilot before. She was a pilot, yes, and a reasonably good one at that. But mobile suit pilot? She has to kill them because she hated Coordinators? No. That wasn't true. Despite hating them for the pains she had experienced, she knew a few of them well enough change her opinion regarding them. The war was to be blamed. Actually, the whole humanity was to be blamed and that included Naturals. Besides, she has died once, and that had changed her perspective on life. 

"_Good show, F427185," the speaker inside the simulator crackled. _

She had a name. Why don't they use it? Surely they know about it. If not they could have asked her.

"_You have surpassed some of our best pilots" _

She closed her eyes and leaned against the pilot seat wearily. Six months has passed. She spent most of her waking hours either in a combat simulator, self defense class, learning battle strategies or listening to indoctrination by Earth Alliance officers. She was tired of all that. God, if such being exists, probably has twisted mind, she decided.

Then the radio came to life, with shouts and gunshots "_AHH! F427… HELP US! WE'RE BEIN…," _the voice trailed.

She quickly unbuckled the safety belt, wanting to go to them as fast as possible. They were not her family or friends, and they were using her, treating her as a tool; but she has to save them, as they were the only people she has. When she opened the cockpit of the simulator she found herself facing rifle barrels trained at her.

"Raise your hands in the air!"

She didn't comply, looking at each people around her instead. They were wearing OMNI uniform. But instead of white, they were black in color.

"I repeat, raise your hand in the air"

Her eyes stopped at the officer giving the order. "Are you going to shoot me if I don't comply?" She shrugged. "I have died before, so I'm not afraid of such threat anymore"

The officer's eye became wide. "ACCURSED!" He quickly called using his radio. "Captain Barzakhov. Please come to the simulator room" He pointed toward her "You, who ever or what ever you are, don't move"

Five minutes later, a bearded man aged around 40 entered into the room. Like the rest of them, he was wearing same uniform, except that he wore a captain's cap instead of a helmet. "What's the matter, Wilhelm? I'm busy searching for my son's body"

Wilhelm saluted. "This… woman…. She was dead"

He looked at her and turned toward Wilhelm. "Speak clearly, soldier, or I shall have you thrown into the brigs for being drunk during mission!"

"The ACCURSED project succeeded! She's one of them"

"Bozhe moi! Are you sure?"

"You can ask her, sir"

Barzhakov gave her a sizing look. "So, I take it that you're one of those Frankenstein pilots we're hearing so much about?"

She nodded. "The only one right now"

"Good. No offense, but we can't have too many dead people running around"

"None taken"

Then the communicator on Barzhakov's walkie-talkie crackled. _"Sir, we have planted the explosives_"

"Good. We don't want even a shred of evidence left. The North Atlantic Federation mustn't know our involvement. Or else our motherland will be in trouble" Barzhakov signaled his men. "Prepare to move out"

"Sir" Wilhelm saluted. "How about your son?"

"He's dead. I wish I found his body so that he can be given a descent burial, but shutting this god forsaken place is more important" He looked at his watch. "We have spent too much time here"

Wilhelm gestured toward the woman. "How about her?"

Barzhakov walked closer to her. "Would you prefer to die or to live, miss?"

She shook her head. "I don't know. Both choices are hard, Captain. Maybe it easier to decide if I have this," she gestured toward Wilhelm, "gentleman's freckled face instead"

Everyone inside the room laughed, except Wilhelm. "Good answer, and good sense of humor. Well, suppose you live. Then what? Will you be the ACCURSED pilot you were brought back to live to be, or return to your previous live?"

"I don't know," she admitted. "My previous life… It was nothing to be proud of" She looked at him before looking around. "How about all of you? Why did you attack this place? By doing so, you have betrayed your own military. Why did you that?"

Barzhakov lowered his captain's cap. "In the beginning, we entered military because we feel that we're right, and we have to protect those close to our heart. And we're willing to do whatever it takes to ensure that" He sighed. "The men around you, they are more loyal to the alliance than everyone else. That's why we have to stop this madness, so that we can fight against our enemies with clear conscience. By the way, you haven't answered my question. What will you do now?"

"I don't know"

A hand was extended to her. "Why don't you follow us, and search for an answer?"

* * *

** Author's note (3 October 2005)**

1) I suppose this story is a one shot, because I can't be be working on simultaneous stories without affecting the update time. But I suppose this story as an AU will eventually converge with episode 42 Gundam Seed Destiny if I continue. But as for now, no matchup.

2) I write this chapter for fun, no profit (in monetary sense), and I don't really care about whether people review or not. As a writer, I want to you to enjoy it. That's all. I can always tell if there is someone reading it or not from the stats. But, if someone review, complain or critisize, I will reply. Flames are accepted, as I believe contructive criticism is important for personal growth.

3)I want to dedicate this chapter to **ladie-babyblu** and **Scented Feathers. **You inspired me to write this short piece. Thank you.

4) There's enough clues for you to guess who is F427185. Know what? You're right


	3. Song of War

The first Bloody Valentine War officially ended with the signing of Junius Seven Treaty by both Earth Alliance and Zodiac Alliance of Freedom Treaty, although it stopped after the fierce battle at Jachin Due. In the battle, known as Second Jachin Due battle, both Earth Alliance and ZAFT used weapons of mass destruction, causing countless deaths and casualties.

Thus, in order to prevent similar catastrophe, both sides decided to meet and sign a peace accord, pledging greater efforts to promote understanding and peace. As a result of this treaty, all Earth Alliance's nuclear weapons stockpiles and ZAFT's GENESIS super weapon were destroyed. Also, ORB territories, conquered by Earth Alliance in June CE 71, were returned back to ORB's control; ORB, in return wouldn't transfer any military technology and aid to both Earth Alliance and ZAFT. The treaty also ratified that the use of technologies such as Mirage Colloid, nuclear weapon, GENESIS were forbidden, except the use of N- Jammer Cancellers for civilian purposes. To mark the signing of the peace accord and to honor those whose life perished in the Bloody Valentine war, a monument was erected on the desolated colony.

Despite the treaty, both Earth Alliance and ZAFT began an arms race. As the treaty didn't seek to dismantle Blue Cosmos, a political group that harbors great hatred toward Coordinators, it managed to rebuilt its base of power in the Atlantic Federation, a powerful coalition partner of Earth Alliance. Reorganized under the leadership of Lord Djibril, Blue Cosmos was actually a front for LOGOS, a conglomerate that profits from mass weapon production by both sides.

Earth Alliance continued upgrading its existing GAT Dagger mass production mobile suits, while developing its successor, GAT-04 Windam. Despite being a signatory of the Junius Seven treaty, it rebuilds its nuclear weapons stockpile and developed mobile suits and ships that uses forbidden technologies. At the same time, because there was a need for skilled pilots that could match ZAFT's Coordinator pilots, Atlantic Federation expanded its Biological CPU program, abducting countless children to be their experiment subjects at a laboratory known as Londoniba. There, the children were induced in drugs and were brainwashed to become emotionless killing machine. Three of those who 'graduated' from the place were Stellar Loussier, Auel Neider and Sting Oakley.

Meanwhile, ZAFT was developing its own mobile suits, and newer models such as ZGMF-1000 ZAFT's Armed Keeper of Unity (ZAKU) began to slowly replace the aging models. At the same time, ZAFT continued developing 5 prototypes mobile suits that were fitted with Deuterium Beam recharging system, enabling them to recharge in the middle of a fight, as they were battery operated. Four of them were completed earlier and was supposed to be stationed in Minerva, ZAFT's new flagship built in the military factory at Armory One.

In Second of October CE 73, Earth Alliance's special operation force known as Phantom Pain, led by an enigmatic man known as Neo Lornoke managed to infiltrate Armory One and stole three of the four prototypes. Meanwhile, outside of the ZAFT's weapon facility, an unmarked Alliance ship by the name of Girty Lue, cloaked from detection by using Mirage Colloid, launched a divisionary attack on its spaceport. In the end, the three mobile suits, Gaia, a BeCue like mobile suit, Abyss which can transform into a submarine and Chaos that can transform into a mobile armor were stolen successfully by Stellar, Auel and Sting.

Caught in this incident were Gilbert Dullindal, ZAFT's chairman, Cagali Yula Attha and Athrun Zala who was impersonating as Alex Deinon, her bodyguard. Cagali and Athrun were there at the Armory One because Cagali, the Representative of ORB union was trying to investigate about possible breach of Junius Seven Treaty because of ZAFT were sheltering refugees from ORB when it was conquered by Earth Alliance. The chairman quickly asked for the two of them to be led to safety, but while on the way, their escort was killed. Having no means of escaping, Athrun discovered a unit of ZAKU that wasn't destroyed and together with Cagalli, commandeered it. While trying to move to safety, the ZAKU was spotted by Stellar and was nearly destroyed when the fourth mobile suit arrived just in time to say it.

The fourth mobile suit, piloted by ZAFT's newest ace by the name of Shinn Asuka fought the three mobile suits to a standstill. Athrun was forced to withdraw when while helping Impulse, Cagalli who was beside him became injured. She hit her head on something when a blast from Abyss rocked the cockpit. But the arrival of Rey Za Burrel and Lunamaria Hawke on the scene managed to balance things up. Realizing that the three of them were in danger of being captured, Sting, Stellar and Auel blasted a hole through Armory One and escaped. Upon retrieving the three mobile suits, Girty Lue quickly left the place, not wanting to risk further confrontation with ZAFT. But Minerva's captain by the name of Talia Gladys ordered for the not yet christened ship to be launched.

Gilbert, who was evacuated to the ship, remained with the ship when it was launched. Athrun and Cagalli were also on the ship as well. While trying to find help for an unconscious Cagalli, Athrun saw Gilbert going to Minerva and followed him. There, Athrun and Cagalli were put under arrest by Lunamaria who has just return to the ship due to technical problem with her red Gunner Zaku. Athrun told her that Cagalli was there as ORB's Representative engaging in a talk with Gilbert when the incident happened. He asked for Cagalli's injury to be treated and for the Gilbert to be informed of their presence on the ship.

Minerva gave chase to Girty Lue, designated as Boogey-1 by Talia and caught up with the fleeing ship at the asteroid debris. While being at Minerva's bridge overlooking the search operation with Athrun and Cagalli, Gilbert divulged Athrun's real identity to the crew. When Cagalli protested, Gilbert said that he meant no harm, but instead he wanted to speak to the famed ace without having pretense. Girty Lue, knowing that Minerva was pursuing it, mounted an ambush using the three stolen mobile suits. The ship hid itself by staying close to an asteroid, letting the huge amount of floating space junks confuse Minerva's radar. Caught in the ambush, Minerva's was heavily damaged. Girty Lue, also damaged from Minerva's Tannhauser managed to get away. Gilbert, knowing that Minerva was in no state to give chase ordered for the operation to be stopped.

While undergoing some repairs, Minerva's crew was told about Junius 7 colony moving out of its orbit and based on its trajectory will crashed into Earth. PLANT quickly sent a message to Earth informing them of this. But because Junius 7 was too far away from the nearest Earth Alliance's fleet, ZAFT sent its own fleet, armed with meteor breaker to destroy it. Among those being on the team was Yzak Joule who was commanding his own team that also has Dearka Elsmann in it. Minerva launched its own mobile suits to support the operation. Athrun asked for permission to help and was granted by Gilbert, under a special clause.

The operation was underway when a rogue group of Coordinators attacked, trying to stop the destruction work. The mobile suits on Minerva were rearmed for anti mobile suits warfare and joined in. To make the matters worse, Girty Lue which was nearby also launched its mobile suits, thinking that the Coordinators carrying out the destruction work were the one behind Junius Seven's movement. Amidst fighting, the meteor breakers were activated successfully and the colony broke into half. Minerva continued pursuing, with Gilbert disembarking and Cagalli choosing to stay on the ship. Minerva fired its Tannhauser cannon and managed to destroy some of the larger chunks. But, there were still a lot of them that crashed on earth, causing massive destruction in many major cities.

PLANT quickly sent help to the affected places, much to Lord Djibril's chagrin as he believes that PLANT was trying to extend its influence on Earth. But due to photos taken by Girty Lue showing DINNs planting boosters on Junius Seven that caused it to move out of orbit, LOGOS and Blue Cosmos managed to instigate Earth population. Earth Alliance blamed PLANT for purposely staging the colony drop on Earth. Demanding that PLANT hand over the terrorists that caused incident, Earth Alliance also wanted it to dissolve its council and disarm ZAFT. But since the terrorists involved in the incident were already killed, there was no way for PLANT to hand them over.

At the same time, Minerva which was quite damaged from the whole ordeal was invited by Cagalli to go ORB to undergo some major repairs. When arriving at the place, the members of ORB's parliament were waiting for Cagalli, including one Jona Roma Saran. Cagalli fiancé due to political reason, he was plotting to force Cagalli to relinquish her power to him after their marriage. At the same time, he along with some members of parliament was negotiating with Earth Alliance, wanting to join International Safety Alliance Treaty (ISAT) proposed by Earth Alliance to prevent attacks from it. Due to the pressure by Jona, Cagalli finally relented and ORB joined Earth Alliance.

Athrun, disappointed by the lack of capability to do anything, went to PLANT to meet Chairman Gilbert Dullindal to see what he can due to help maintain peace between the Earth and PLANT. Around this time, the deadline for PLANT and ZAFT's surrender was up and predictably, it didn't do so. Earth Alliance declared war and sent its massive fleet to fight ZAFT's fleet. Actually, the attack was a decoy to lure ZAFT's forces away from PLANT. A nuclear strike team attacked PLANT with nuclear weapons. It was at this time Earth Alliance's new mass produced mobile suit Windam came into service. Fortunately ZAFT anticipated the Alliance's intention and destroyed the nuclear fleet with its Neutron Stampeder.

Athrun reacted when he learned of the attack on PLANT. Meanwhile, its population was provoked by the knowledge that they were targeted with nuclear weapons. Fortunately, Meer Campbell, a Lacus look-alike mange to placate them. Gilbert persuaded Athrun to return to ZAFT, even to the extent of arranging a meeting between him and Yzak and Dearka. After much thought, Athrun agreed and was reinstated into ZAFT. He was promoted to FAITH, a special rank that allows him to act independently outside the normal chain of command, only reporting to Gilbert and PLANT's high council. Finally completed, ZAFT's fifth mobile suit by the name of Savior was given to him. It can transform a mobile armor. Athrun was asked to join Minerva as Gilbert hoped that the ship can play a role similar to Archangel in the previous war.

Meanwhile, on ORB, Andrew Bartfeld warned Minerva to leave before ORB formally enters the Earth Alliance because by then the ship will be captured. Heeding his advice, Talia ordered for the ship to be launched, with Cagalli sending them off at the dock. But Jona Roma Seiran who wanted to earn some points with the Alliance revealed Minerva's departure. An Alliance fleet was waiting outside ORB territory for Minerva. ORB's own navy was mobilized to prevent Minerva from reentering ORB. Trapped without any chance to return, Minerva fought back hard. At this time, Alliance unveiled a mobile armor with positron cannon deflector. The battle was intense and finally the Alliance fleet was forced to withdraw. Around this time Shinn discovered that he possessed SEED ability.

Kira, Lacus along with the others who lived peacefully on ORB were forced into the conflict when a special force consisting of highly trained Coordinators attacked them, wanting to kill Lacus Clyne. Having no choice as the special force brought along their mobile suits, Kira piloted Freedom and defeated them. But they self-destructed to avoid capture. Realizing that they can't remain on ORB, they boarded Archangel and took off toward Scandinavian kingdom. Before they left, Kira kidnapped Cagalli from her wedding with Jona by flying Freedom to the ceremony and took her away. Captain Todaka, who was loyal to Cagalli, let Freedom and Archangel leave without a challenge, quoting the need to handle the situation without endangering Cagalli.

Athrun, not realizing that both Minerva and Archangel have left, entered ORB and was intercepted by two Murasames. After realizing that there was no way for him to land on ORB and Minerva wasn't at ORB anymore, he left and rejoined the ship at the nearest ZAFT's base. On the ship, he and the others pilots, Shinn, Lunamaria and Rey participated in few battles successfully, including an attack by Neo Lornoke and his Phantom Pain brigade. Later, they were joined by Heine Westenfluss who was also a FAITH member.

Angry at Earth Alliance's recurring defeat at the hand of Minerva and concerned that the ship is becoming ZAFT's symbol of freedom, Djibril forced ORB to sent an expeditionary fleet to help Phantom Pain in defeating Minerva. The fleet was led by Jona and commandeered by Todaka who was promoted to Colonel. Knowing about ORB's involvement, Archangel also joined the battle. Just as Minerva was about to fire its positron cannon at ORB's fleet, Kira destroyed it. As a result, Minerva was at a very severe disadvantage. Meanwhile, Cagalli launched in her Strike Rouge and asked ORB to back down from the fight. Told that the person talking to them was a fake, ORB forces continued to attack.


	4. ZGMF X16S Fallen

The Second Valentine Tragedy took place and the world was once again plunged into the chaos of war.

* * *

Captain Talia Gladys put a thumb under her lips, a habit she do whenever she was thinking something important. Having to rethink her strategy when Tannhauser was destroyed by Freedom was something was beginning to cause headache to her, a rare problem among Coordinators. "How are our mobile suits faring?" she asked Meyrin.

"Not pretty good. We're greatly outnumbered," Meyrin answered.

She let out a loud sigh. Things were looking grim for Minerva

"Captain, what shall we do?" Arthur asked in panic.

"Continue fighting," she answered. "They're not going to let us go, aren't they?"

"Hold on!" Meyrin said. "We have a coded audio transmission"

"From them?"

"No. Give me some time while I decode the transmission" Meyrin's fingers were furiously tapping the keyboard. "Got it"

"ATTENTION ZAFT VESSEL MINERVA. THIS IS BATTLESHIP CHERUBIM'S CAPTAIN SPEAKING"

"Meyrin. Have you established secure channel with this message broadcaster?"

"Yes"

Talia picked up the communication handset. "This is the captain of Minerva speaking. What do you want?"

"WE WANT TO HELP"

She frowned. It sounded like a trap. "Why should we believe you?"

"WE'RE 20 KILOMETER AT 5 O'CLOCK FROM YOUR SHIP. WOULD YOU LIKE A VALIANT MISSILE? JUST TELL US WHERE YOU TO BE HIT. IT WILL BE ON THE HOUSE… ERR…SHIP"

Talia covered the mouth piece with her hand. "Arthur, is there any ship behind us?"

Arthur looked at the console. "Nothing. Wait! A phantom reading was detected" He looked at his captain. "Mirage Colloid?" Despite the Junius 7 Peace Treaty banning the usage of Mirage Colloid, there are some quarters that didn't seem to care about the treaty. First, Boogey-01 and now this Cherubim ship. Arthur shook his head. "Captain?"

"WE HAVE TEMPORARILY DECLOAKED IN ORDER TO PROVE THAT WE EXIST. BUT IF YOU DON'T BELIEVE US, YOU'RE FREE TO END THIS TRANSMISSION. WE WILL OFFER TO HELP THE EARTH ALLIANCE INSTEAD"

Minerva's captain slammed her fist on her chair. "How dare you threaten us!"

"WE DON'T. WE ARE GIVING YOU OPTIONS"

"Captain, what are we going to do?" Arthur asked.

She looked down in anger. "Our day couldn't get any worse. They are mercenaries, probably capitalizing on our helplessness" Her grip on the communicator tightened. "The Chairman will roast me for this…" As the bridge shake from an explosion, she realized that she had no choice. "What are your terms?"

"ONE, WE WANT TO HAVE A GUNNER WIZARD. WE KNOW MINERVA CARRIES A LOT OF SPARES. YOU WILL JETTISSON THE WEAPON IN A FLOATING POD AFTER THE BATTLE, IF YOU SURVIVE"

A gunner wizard, consisting of miniature positron cannon for use by ZAFT's mobile suits could easily command high price on black market. "Agreed" She was curious. "How are you going to be certain that we'll not double cross you?"

A chuckled echoed through the bridge's speakers "WE CAPTAINS HAVE OUR HONOR AND PRIDE, DON'T WE? THAT'S WHY WE RATHER GO DOWN WITH OUR SHIPS. AS FOR CONDITION NUMBER TWO, WE WILL HELP YOU, BUT IT'S UP TO OUR OWN DISCRETION HOW TO DO IT. YOU CAN SUGGEST, WE WILL LISTEN, BUT WE WILL NOT TAKE ANY ORDER. AGREED?"

"Agreed. How many mobile suits you're sending?" It was improbable that the ship will enter the battle itself as it was activating its mirage colloid system.

"ONE MOBILE SUIT. CHERUBIM WILL REMAIN OUT OF BATTLE. WE CAN'T DECLOAK BECAUSE IT WILL LEAD TO ACKWARD QUESTIONS BEING ASKED"

"One!" Meyrin exclaimed from her station.

"Is this some kind of a joke?" Talia asked.

"WE'RE SERIOUS. WE'RE SENDING THE DATA REGARDING THE MOBILE SUIT TO YOUR SHIP. PLEASE STANDBY"

"Meyrin"

"Yes, Captain"

"Input temporary friendly status on the mobile suit on our system when we have its data"

"Yes. The data stream has ended. The unit is… EEEHHHH!" The tech controller shrieked in shock.

"What's wrong!"

Meyrin's hands were shaking as she typed the commands to display what she saw to one of the main screens. "It's… one… of ours"

"ZGMF-X16S" Captain Talia Gladys said slowly as she looked at the statistics. She didn't have the security clearance to know about the prototype mobile suit, but according to her sources, the prototype was designed a month before the end of the first war to supersede Providence. But during trial in space two months after the peace treaty was signed, it was involved in an accident. The mobile suit's experimental fusion engine, designed to be unaffected by N-Jammer, developed severe malfunctions and exploded. As Talia looked at the mobile suit's schematics, she wondered about what really happened that day.

* * *

Andrew Bartfeld was having a hard time defending Cagali from her own ORB force. He scowled at the irony of the situation. "Cagali! If you don't want to fight, just return to the ship. I can't hold them and look after you at the same time" 

Cagali didn't reply but cried at the current situation. She kept trying to contact ORB navy, trying to stop them. It was in vain.

"Go back to the ship!" Then to his horror, Andrew saw two Murasames had already closed in on the Strike Rouge, aiming their rifles at it. "Shit!"

The Murasames fired, but their shots were blocked.

In his gold colored Murasame, Andrew heaved a breath of relieve. Freedom had saved the day again. Wait, Freedom was mostly white in color. This one's black. He looked at the newcomer closely.

At a first glance, the mobile suit resembled Freedom, except that it was mostly black in color, with red linings. Its torso was dark blue. And instead of HIMAT wings it mounted a normal jet pack system. A small energy shield generator hung on its left hand.

The one eyed ace smirked in disbelief. "You must be Fallen that I've been hearing so much about"

Not waiting for the Murasames to attack again, Fallen quickly drew two beam sabers from its torsos and attack them, cutting off their arms and legs. Without their arms and legs, the Murasames transformed, trying to fly away. But they didn't get anywhere when their wings were slashed.

"Heh," Andrew said. "I guessed I have to thank you for saving ORB's princess" Then to his surprise, Fallen went behind Strike Rouge and cut off its flight pack. Strike Rouge fell like rock toward the ocean. Andrew had to push his own Murasame's capabilities to the limit as he tried to catch it. As if taunting, Fallen looked at them for a moment before setting off in another direction "That bastard! I'll get him someday"

* * *

On Minerva's deck, Lunamaria cursed, while trying to aim her Zaku's M1500 Ultros cannon at the attacking Murasames. They were as annoying as mosquitoes, and twice as hard to destroy. She spotted a trio of them in mobile armor mode going on a bomb run toward Minerva. Her mobile suit raised its cannon toward them. She was triangulating her aim when she spotted a mobile suit cutting of their wings, while firing its laser at the bombs that has been released toward Minerva. "What is that thing?" She wanted to target the mobile suit but stopped when the targeting computer designated is as a friendly. Then her sister's face came on screen, informing her of the current friendly status being accorded to the ZGMF-X16S Fallen. 

Then Rey's face came on screen. "But be careful. It may turn against us at any time"

"But it's helping us," she said.

"We don't know its motive. If it does anything…"

"Don't talk nonsense. While you're badmouthing me, a bomb had been dropped on you," a female voice interrupted their conversation. True enough a bomb exploded near Rey's Zaku. It was lucky that it wasn't a direct hit.

"Rey!"

Inside Lunamaria's cockpit, her sister's face on the screen was replaced with a pilot wearing a black Earth Alliance flight suit. "Don't worry, he'll live"

Rey was back on line "You're an Alliance pilot!"

"So?"

"Rey's right. You can't be trusted" Lunamaria said

"Let's argue later" The transmission ended as sudden as it began.

Fallen engaged its thruster boosters and continued what it was doing, bringing down Windams and Murasames. Meanwhile, Lunamaria and Rey also continued their work, intercepting any enemy that came close to Minerva

* * *

Looking at the screen depicting the battle between ORB's forces and Minerva, Neo Lornoke pondered on the recent turn of event. If he wasn't wearing a mask that time, his subordinate would have seen him frowning. Djibril wouldn't be pleased. Not that he cared about his leader's feeling. But as a commanding officer, he hated losses, especially those of his own men. He picked up a handset. "What's the meaning of this intrusion? First, Archangel and Freedom. And now this newcomer. Is this new mobile suit belongs to ORB?" 

He had to hold the handset away from his ear when Jona Saran mumbled a panicked denial. Having to report to a leader wearing blue lipstick and work together with a girlish spoiled brat seemed to be occupational hazards as an Alliance colonel. "Very well. Since it's not yours, there will be no problem if we destroy it?"

"………………"

"Then, regroup your mobile suits. We'll launch a missile barrage"

"………………"

Neo's fisted his left hand. "Don't you care about your men! What kind of officer are you?"

"………………"

"No buts! Just get them out of the way in three minutes! Any longer and we'll torpedo your ship instead"

"………………"

"Apologies accepted. Synchronize your ships' barrage with us as well" Neo put down the handset and turned to an officer. "Signal our remaining Windams to leave the target area in two minutes"

* * *

An alarmed Meyrin came back on screen inside Lunamaria's cockpit. "Missile barrage aimed at Minerva. Quantity of the missiles : 613. Can you shoot some of them down?" 

Meanwhile, in an unexplainable move, Archangle and Freedom intercepted some of the missiles, but there were too many. More than 300 missiles were still flying toward Minerva. Lunamaria and Rey prepared to fire.

"Red and white Zaku, cover me while I shoot down the missiles"

"Idiot!" Lunamaria exclaimed. "You cannot shoot down all of them"

"That's why I told you to cover me and pick up any missiles that got through me. Don't worry about missing; the rest will be taken by Minerva's CIWS" Fallen stored its beam swords and took out a cigar shaped rifle. It then moved toward the missiles' trajectory, aimed at the incoming missile and waited. Then, when one of the missiles got close enough, it began to fire. Very short bursts of green light came out of the rifle's three rotating laser barrels.

Below, inside Zaku, Lunamaria watched in awe as Fallen turned and twisted while shooting the missiles. The way it was handled made it like a giant humanoid dancing in the air. Its maneuverability and speed was impressive. Its maneuverability was better than Freedom's due to added thrusters to each one of its legs. Fallen shot a missile on its left, while jumping to the right, only to stop midway and went in opposite direction while destroying another. Then it performed a barrel roll, destroying few more. The aerial dance went on, and more and more missiles exploded, until none was left. The few that got through could easily be destroyed by Minerva's own interceptors. When Fallen stopped moving, blue mist could be seen coming out of its beam gatling barrel. A high velocity beam weapon like the one it used needed forced cooling.

"Amazing!" Lunamaria squawked. The pilot must be a Coordinator to possess such amazing skills and reflexes. She could be one of those combat Coordinators programmed by the Alliance to fight ZAFT. "Why don't you leave the Alliance and join us? ZAFT is more than happy to have you join us"

In response, Fallen turned its rifle in the direction of Gunner Zaku and shot, shocking Lunamaria so much that she didn't move it out of the way. However the laser didn't reach her; it intercepted a missile, exploding it.

"We're still in the middle of a battle. Don't let your guard down" Fallen flew away from Minerva, attacking a trio of Murasames before shifting its attention to Freedom.

* * *

Kira was surprised when he had another one of those tell tale flashes again. Someone who was connected to him was there. He turned toward Alliance's naval forces. Then he had another one, this one leaving him with a feeling of emptiness. He didn't have time to ponder, as his cockpit was screaming warnings to him regarding a threat coming from behind. Freedom managed to swerve to the left, evading a beam sword that was intended to cut it into half. 

Fallen was hovering while facing Freedom, waiting it to make its move. Then Freedom brought out its own sword and attacked, aiming a jab at Fallen's head. It didn't reach its mark as Fallen's sword blocked it. Meanwhile, Fallen's left hand held its beam gattling.

Kira was expecting the Fallen's pilot to kick Freedom away and then used the opportunity to shoot him. So, Freedom was prepared and brought out its shield to block the shot. But it never came. Instead Fallen's sword clashed against the shield while its gattling gun was fired toward Gaia who was about to destroy Gouf Ignited. The shots saved the golden colored Gouf, but damaged it along with Gaia. Only then Fallen kicked against Freedom's shield, pushing both away from each other. It then fired against the shield ineffectively, but forcing Kira not to attack. Despite being in SEED mode, Kira was surprised that he couldn't outmaneuver his opponent. He tried to slash Fallen's head, but was blocked. He tried to attack its shoulders, but it deftly sidestepped the attack. In less than a second, Kira has formulated a strategy to overcome it.

Freedom engaged its HIMAT wings, beam swords in each of its hands. It then engaged its boosters at full throttle and sped toward Fallen, targeting the pilot's cockpit. In his calculation, Fallen would either move to the left or to the right, as the pilot certainly wouldn't want to be sliced into two. That will give Kira the opportunity to disable Fallen by braking after the slash and immediately changed direction to attack it. Feeling a bit sure that the tactic will succeed, Kira prepared to brake.

But he has to brake earlier than expected. Fallen didn't even move, remaining at its position, with Freedom's beam swords just a meter away from the cockpit.

"Why…" Kira asked, not knowing how to react. What was the pilot of the mobile suit in front of him thinking? If he didn't stop the attack, the mobile suit would have been destroyed. And the pilot would surely die. Sweats began to roll at the sides of his head.

The lull in the fighting gave Fallen the chance it needed. It raised its hands and punched Freedom. Again and again Freedom was punched. No beam swords and no rifles. Only punches.

Again Kira was surprised by what happened. Why punch? Punches wouldn't do any good against Trans Phase armor. A minor dent here and there, but nothing else. Why? Even as his cockpit shook from impact, he wondered the absurdity of it all.

Finally the punches stopped. Fallen and Freedom stood facing each other, not doing anything. Just facing each other, waiting. After a minute has passed, Kira finally detected a movement coming from the mobile suit in front of him. But it wasn't to attack him. Fallen's gattling rifle targeted Gaia which were flying toward them and fired. Gaia crashed into the water. It then turned toward the Gouf.

* * *

Heine Westenfluss was very pissed off when most of his Gouf's weapons were destroyed by the mercenary that appeared out of nowhere. Despite Meyrin telling him that the mobile suit was given a temporary friendly status, he didn't listen, telling her that he was acting in his position as a FAITH member. He could always claim that the mercenary has to be taken down because it was in cohorts with Freedom. Look at how they were standing near each other. He pressed a trigger and green beams of destruction came out of Gouf's remaining good arm. Unfortunately, due to the damage in the stabilizers, the shots were poorly aimed and missed. Despite the setback, Heine knew that he could try again until he succeed; it would be more accurate once his mobile suit flew near enough 

But Gouf couldn't fly without its flight pack, and a few well placed shot at it and a few more at the auxiliary boosters ensured that Heine wouldn't get the chance to fire at them again. Fallen then turned toward Freedom whose pilot was still confused by what happened.

* * *

The attack started according to Neo's plan at first. Even with Minerva firing its positron cannon, he was confident that he would have a 70 chance of succeeding. But with the arrival of Archangel, the tide of the battle began to change, becoming worse. And the arrival of that blue-black mobile suit was the final nail in the coffin. "Launch the signal flare to retreat" 

He wasn't stupid. After all, those who retreat gets to fight another day. And that other day may witness Minerva's downfall. And maybe he could explain why he seemed to know Freedom's pilot.

* * *

Kira was still not sure what to do when Captain Murrue's face came online. 

"Kira, it's time to go"

"Yes"

He guided the control do that Freedom slowly moved back before leaving. As Freedom moved farther and farther from Fallen, he thought about everything that took place. Kira wondered why he felt relief and a bit of longing. That wasn't supposed to happen on a chaotic battlefield. He turned his head toward Fallen as Freedom flew away. A red mobile suit came into his view, but his thought was too occupied to wonder about who piloted it. Freedom sped away to Archangel.

* * *

Barzhakov's face came online inside Fallen's cockpit. "Have you retrieved the Gunner wizard from Minerva?" 

"Yes" She nodded. "By the way, Captain, thank you for doing this. I know this request of mine is very selfish"

Her captain laughed. "Isn't that human nature, Naturals and Coordinators alike? Anyway, this is the least that we can do for you. You have helped us a lot" Barzhakov glanced left and right before leaning toward his console and whispered. "We were worried when you start punching Freedom just now. We thought that you lost it"

She looked away shamefully. "Sorry. I… I don't… know what came over me"

He nodded. "I see. Don't worry about it. Return to the ship quickly. Something just came up in Russia"

"Roger. Fllay out"

* * *

1

* * *

**Author's note **(5 October 2005) 

1) I know I did say that the story is a one shot. It is still a one shot, in a way. It's just that I have written a few chapters and feel that I still can upload this one and hopefully keep it one shot.

2) With this chapter, I will redesignate the story, it should be evident from some changes in the story properties. Yes, basically now it is a match up.

3) What I write that day still stand. I welcome reviews very much, but I'm not forcing you do so. I looked at the statistic that day and I was quite satisfied. I have received my 'views'

4) I have Heine alive because he's one of most 'humane' character in my opinion. Well, when (and if) I continue the story in the future, you will see more of him.


	5. Pawns' repose

Gilbert Dullindal pondered the chess game on his table. Somehow the white side has lost some of its pieces, and its queen was in a danger of being routed by black's bishop and knight. That was the danger faced whenever the queen piece was being moved too often. Meanwhile its king was trapped behind the impenetrable wall of defense, protected but confined. What can be done do to turn the situation around, he wondered. Sacrifice the knight nearest to queen to pave the way out? No, that wasn't it. The knight was in such a position that moving it would be impossible. His thought strayed to Freedom and Archangel. Yes, that was the problem. The knight couldn't be moved right now. So he has to find another way to free his queen.

His communicator beeped. Gilbert pushed a button and a ZAFT officer appeared on screen.

"Sir, we have received the report that Minerva has survived the attack?"

He eyed the white's queen briefly. "That's good to hear. How is the ship's condition?"

"It is damaged, with its Tannhauser cannon being taken out by Freedom"

"Freedom? Archangel was there too?"

"Eerr.. yes"

"They were with ORB?"

"No. The situation is not clear, but it seemed that they were considered rogues by their own force"

Gilbert leaned on his couch. "Is that so? Well, the situation could have been worse due to their interruption"

"And before I forgot, there's one more thing"

"Oh?"

"ZGMF-X16S Fallen has been sighted by Minerva"

Gilbert almost stood "What!"

"According to Minerva's pilots, it was piloted by an Earth Alliance pilot. And it was based on a ship named Cherubim"

"This Cherubim ship… does it look like Archangel?" He reasoned that if the ship's name somehow has to do with an angel, there was a probability that the ship is an Archangel-class ship.

"No visual contact. It used mirage colloid to hide itself"

"I see. So they were there with the ORB fleet?"

"They were mercenaries and offered their service to Minerva"

Gilbert saw a move that he didn't realize until then. He moved a white pawn to eat the black's knight. The move has saved the queen and ended black's total domination of the board. "How much money did they ask for?"

"They asked for a gunner wizard pack"

"A wizard system? How interesting. Will you please prepare a full report on what happened?"

"Yes sir. But what shall we reply to the enquiry regarding Minerva engaging a mercenary group?"

"Captain Gladys must have acted in her capacity as a FAITH member, so I suppose it's for the best. I will get the council to consider that point when they receive the report. As for Minerva, prepare a directive for it to contact me whenever they sight Fallen again"

"Yes" His subordinate's face disappeared from the screen.

Gilbert put his fingertips together and sighed. His thought traveled to the month before the first war ended. At that time he was only one of the representatives at the council. But Patrick Zala put him in charge of the technology development department. It was there he met Terrence Shauzer. A genius, even by Coordinator standard, he was involved in the Freedom, Justice and Providence's initial designs. But he wasn't content with the three mobile suits. He went on and designed another one, all by himself. A mobile suit that carries a dizzying array of technologically advanced devices, some of them were experimental at that time. It has an energy shield, very flexible hard points to connect different weapons and utility systems, an untested successor to the DRAGOON system and many more. Fallen was designed to be the ultimate mobile suit, to be piloted by the ultimate Coordinator.

Unfortunately, due to the peace treaty signed between ZAFT and Earth Alliance, the deployment of Fallen had to be put on hold, as even though it didn't use N-Canceller, the technology used to provide nuclear power to it was similar and could be problematic if words about it came out. Using battery to provide power would be out of question as the system would drain power very quickly.

Beside that, there was another problem with the operating system that controls the mobile suit. Another experimental technology, designed as to improve piloting skill, it allowed for greater control, as its response time to the pilot's input was 10 nanoseconds. That would make its reactions very fast. But to ensure that, it would need the pilot to be totally immersed in the system. Very few pilots could do that, and finding a very skilled one at the same time was very hard. The system was deemed to be unwieldy. Besides, there were unconfirmed reports that the test pilots for the mobile suit experienced hallucinations after piloting it.

When told about ZAFT's decision, Terrence was calm, asking whether he could pilot the craft for the last time. Thankful for his contributions toward the development of new Gundams that were battery operated, the council agreed for a final flight, in space, where Fallen's abilities would show themselves. However, two cruisers and their mobile suits were assigned to watch the unarmed Fallen, should Terrence tried to do something funny. It was during that flight when Terrence said that he has engaged the self destruct sequence and advised his escorts to leave the area. A few minutes later, a large explosion occurred and Fallen was never seen again, except for some small remains. Tests indicated the remains were indeed from Fallen.

When an investigation was conducted, it was found out that Terrence knew the project was to be cancelled. He has destroyed many documents pertaining to the project. Mutating computer virus and worms were released inside main computers, erasing many electronic archives on Fallen. What remained wasn't enough for ZAFT to rebuild it should they want to.

Gilbert pressed few buttons on the computer and computer footage of the battle between Minerva and ORB force went on screen. He paid attention to Fallen and the opened another computer, whose screen showed a wire frame figure of Fallen. It was Fallen, all right. The signature blue-black-red coloring and its three-barreled beam rifle were there.

He looked at the chess board again. Maybe moving the white pawn forward would make it easier to route the black. Now how can he do it?

* * *

"Lim, toss me a wire stripper, will you?" a green haired man asked while twiddling with some wires on the newly acquired ZAFT weapon. "How's your mission, Red?" 

"Need I remind you not to call me red, patchwork?" Fllay answered while typing a few commands on a console beside her mobile suit.

"Hey, that is a racist remark! I'm hurt" It was a common derogatory remark by Naturals to Coordinators because of their manipulated genes.

"And labeling me by my inherited characteristic is a politically correct thing to do? I'm immune to your attempt to get a nookie from me, you know"

"Always, always, always, you resist my charm. If you want to resist the ape derivatives on this board, I understand, but…OW!" Terrence rubbed his head that has been hit by a measuring tape. "Other Naturals except you, Razak, Lim" he looked at the rest of the repair crew, "and you guys" He turned back toward Fllay. "But why resist me? We could have wonderful offspring together, with your beauty and my genius"

Murmurs of how funny his children would look like echoed throughout the repair bay, followed by a few chuckles.

"Hey, you guys! You're supposed to support me here" Not receiving any encouraging words, he turned toward the red haired girl. "So how's the battle?"

"So… so…"

"I heard about the reason you went to battle. Archangel, is it? You were stationed there during the war?"

Fllay had a faraway look in her eyes. "Yes. I was on it, I think. But somehow I feel confused. I remember that there are times when I'm wearing civilian clothing and at other time uniform. You see, I don't have all of my memory…"

"Ah… like that treatment they give to that Lornoke. I wonder why he wears such a weird mask. I mean, look at the horns. He must have an ugly mug, trying hide under that mask"

"Flaga. Mwu La Flaga"

"Huh?"

"His real name. I remember him as a good mobile armor pilot. Not bad looking"

"Ah, those mobile armor pilots always try to get into your skirt"

"Nah. I think you're just jealous. He's a perfect gentleman" She typed a few more commands. "When Barzhakov found me, he asked me what I wanted to do. I wanted to know more about myself. That ship, it is the linked to the past"

Terrence face became serious. "You're willing to open the Pandora box? Maybe you will remember things that you have done, that will make you wish that you don't remember them"

She shrugged. "I already know that I'm not exactly a girl guide. In fact one of the few things I remember very well that I served under Raww La Creuset team, as his assistant"

"No way! Not the legendary man himself"

"Before you have fancy ideas let me tell you that it was strictly on professional level. No nookie was involved" She looked down. "I want to find out what I want to do with my life, that's all. I know the ship will have the key to that"

"How about us? The ones here at Cherubim?"

Fllay smiled sadly while shaking her head. "Enough about myself. How about you, Terrence? How come you're here with us, the so-called ape derivatives?"

"ZAFT wanted to decommission Fallen because of peace treaty. Call me weird or psycho, but I consider this thing as my baby. Sure, I can accept it being destroyed in battles; that's what mobile suits for. But to be recycled as farming tools at Februarius 4? Unforgivable! So I staged an accident, exploding a large bomb so that it seemed that I self destructed.

"Then why did you come here? To an Earth Alliance ship, no less"

"I initially wanted to go to the Junk Guild, you know, offer my service in exchange of repairing few mobile suits here and there. But the explosion also damaged Fallen. I didn't get far. Cherubim found me instead" He wiped a sweat off his brow. "I know what you're wondering. Why am I here? Why not self destruct instead?"

"That's right. I wonder why I'm so unlucky to meet you"

Terrence mocked growl. "Well, heavily injured at that time, I wanted to do that, waiting for a Dagger or two to approach. Why go down alone, right? But then Captain came down from the ship alone, walking toward my mobile suit. Either he's dumb or very brave to do that. I could have squished him like a bug"

"I think it's the former," Fllay said. Both of them laughed.

"Then, standing in front of Fallen, he told me that if I want to self destruct Fallen, I should set the self destruct mechanism to ten minutes. I asked him why, and he answered that would be enough for me to leave it and go to Cherubim to receive medical treatment"

"And you did?"

"Me, wanting to die despite having superior IQ than ole 'Bert 'Stein of AD era? Of course not. If I know that I'm going to meet you, I would have jumped out off the cockpit earlier to join Cherubim"

"Down, boy. I'm still immune to you"

"Anyway, back to the story.Rather than setting it to self destruct in ten minutes, I set it to self destruct whenever someone else besides me open the cockpit. Then I asked them whether I could bring my mobile suit along. They agreed"

"And no one touched it"

"Yes" Terrence sighed. "That Barzakhov and our crew; they are good people. They treated me as a normal man; not judge me by my genetic. That is why I will follow them, even to hell if needed" He smirked. "Despite my Coordinator abilities, I have yet totally defeat them in poker"

Fllay smiled. "That's because you're naïve"

He pouted and continued working. "Well, you can teach me how to play and win after this" He grinned as he disabled the weapon's safety mechanism. "Okay, you guys, come here and help" The other mechanics came to dismantle the whole thing. "All right, now we just need two more green laser emitters and a wide arc energy broadcaster for me to dissect" He looked at Fllay. "I hope we can finish the weapon system soon. Then maybe you don't have to use that Delimiter System that often"

"Why? The system allows me to fight better"

Terrence walked to her and shook her shoulders with concern. "Do you know that prolonged use of the system can bring adverse effects? Veteran pilots I knew hallucinated when they tried to engage the system. Even I the inventor couldn't last more than thirty seconds after I switched it on. I don't know how come you can control the system so well, but please don't push your luck"

Fllay closed her eyes and shook her head. "Don't worry. Do you know why I can operate the system without much problem? That's because I have seen the horrible things now even before using it. If any, it sometimes provide the needed relief from my own nightmares"

He released his hold on her. "Fllay…"

"To protect everyone else, to know they are safe, perhaps happy. Isn't that a good reason enough to use it?"

"But…"

"Isn't me being be unable to do anything, to protect will plunge me into deeper abyss? A greater despair? A darker nightmare?"

"FLLAY!"

"Don't worry, Terrence" She smiled and punched his shoulder playfully. "I was joking. Don't think too much about it. I'm not using it that often"

He just shook his head. She really thought he was that naïve.

* * *

Athrun looked at mobile suits as they were being repaired. Except for Saviour and Impulse, they suffered from significant damages. The repair crew was working nonstop to repair all of them; not wanting to be caught unprepared should the enemy attack again. His thought wandered to Kira and Freedom. He had tried to communicate to him but the situation they were in hampered it. Now, due to Kira's intervention, he felt confused. He felt for a need of fresh air and went outside to the observation deck. He saw a bird flying. 

"Makes you wish that you can be as carefree," a voice said.

"Sometimes," he answered. "How's your mobile suit?"

Heine laughed and moved to his left. He then leaned on the railing, looking straight ahead. Not very good. Lots of hole here and there. I'm thinking of asking the mechanics not to patch them so that my unit will have very good air circulation"

Both of them laughed at his joke. Athrun liked Heine's sunny composition. Somehow most pilots on Minerva, him included were serious all the time.

"So what are you going to do now, Athrun? You already see that ORB is our enemy. They were not firing firecrackers or confetti, that's for sure"

Athrun let out long breath. "I guess it can't be helped. If I have to fight against them, I guess I will"

Heine put an arm on his shoulder. "I know it is hard, but that's what we are. Soldiers. It would be nice if we don't have to fight them, but right now we have no choice. You saw that they attacked us first"

"Yeah," Athrun said sadly.

"I saw how you take them down, by shooting at their weapons or wings, leaving them alive"

"I'm sorry… but I…"

"No, don't be. I'm not criticizing what you did. It's how you fight. At least you're honest with it. Me? I'm neither that particular about their life, nor I have aiming skill to be doing what you did" Heine put his hand on the railing again. "That's why you have to fight. By fighting them, you'll have the chance to defeat them without killing them"

"Yet some of them died"

"Better than all of them, don't you think?"

"Yes"

"I wonder if I can meet that woman pilot again"

"The mercenary?"

"Yes, the one piloting the prototype. She owed me big time for damaging my Gouf"

"She saved you life from Gaia, didn't she?"

"Yes. But it doesn't change the fact that my Gouf looks like cheese now" Heine laughed. "Yellow in color and have holes in them" Then his face turned serious. "I'll get her next time. How dare she pilot one of our mobile suits?"

"Even if she is going to be on our side?"

Heine smiled. "Then, I'll have to think another way. She intrigues me, after all"

Athrun turned toward the door. "I want to go to the mess. Will you join me?"

"Why? Are you broken?"

Athrun groaned at the lame joke.

"Oh, before I forgot"

Attrun stopped.

"Please tell your friends at Archangel to stop intruding during the battle. They only spread chaos and confusions"

"I know. But, as much as I want to, I can't contact them, as I don't know their whereabouts. I'll think of something"

"I guess it can't be help then. Well, no point of thinking about it too much. Come, let's get those roast beef sandwiches"

* * *

1

* * *

**ChibiRulz YanLan** --> Stellar is one one my favorite female characters in GSD, along with Abby (the info specialist that replaced Meyrin), but I can't think of a suitable story for Stellar. It will have to be set after the second war, and knowing my limited skill in explaining mobile suits, that would be quite a problem. Also I really have to come up with a very good explanation on how EA scientists managed to find her body in the middle of a lake. But, maybe if someone's interested to write about Stellar, it could be said that an EA personnel followed Shinn discretely and after he has left, retrieved Stellar's body. If you notice, that's quite similar to Athrun and Meyrin being resuced after their Gouf was taken down. As for Fllay, I have my work cut out for me. Since they rescued Fllaga in the middle of space, I can set up a scenario where EA scientists went around the Jachin Due battlefield, collecting bodies for their vile experiments. Plus, in space, body decomposition is a bit slow because the lack of oxygen, vital for aerobic bacteria. 

**nick2951** --> I hope this chapter is soon enough. I'll see where I 'll go from here, but I can't promise I will finish up to episode 50 in GSD. But, Kira will be fighting Fllay again later, as real enemies. That part I can promise.

**Zidane Lightning Saix** --> Well, I'm still earning to write romance, but Kira will have problems Fllay first. As for Lacus, I'm going to try to potray her as close as to the one spotrayed in GS and GSD. _So Fllay is another 'Ultimate Coordinator'? _ Not really. You can classify her as the 'Ultimate Biological CPU'. So she doesn't have SEED capabilities, but she is a Newtype (meaning that she's somehow psychic) and she'll have a mode analogous to SEED (probably. Maybe I'll just slap her with SEED instead). Heine... Hmm... Not very much a "Heine" fan, are you? Please refer to the author's note 4). That reply is meant for you as much it was meant to Mr. Anonymous.

**lilplayer **--> Okay. Yakusoku da na.

**Anonymous** --> EA seems like to downright Evil Empire. I''m surprised Djibril uses purple lipstick instead of wearing a cape and wielding lightsabers. As for Neo, it seemed like he totally changed after he lost his mask. That doesn't seem congruent to me. But in my personel view, he looked much cooler with that stupid mask on. When he lost the mask, he keep making goofy comments here and there. "Ah. You want to bathe with me?" or "Do you love me at first sight, miss beautiful?" I don't see him making such comments while wearing that mask. In this story, I try to bridge the difference. Then again, maybe I will be more serious if my leader asks me to wear something as stupid as that mask. And as for Heine, refer to author's note 4). Since there are two of you commenting regarding Heine, I think it will be fair to put it in a neutral place. About Athrun, I like him going around, moping. It provided entertainment value to me when I watch the story. And, it makes him more "humane"

**Scented Feathers **--> I really like your "Sound of Snow Falling" In fact, the part where they kissed gave me an idea for an important scene in Fallen Angel. But, to go to that scene, I would have to write around 15-20 more chapters. That's a bit too long. But chopping some of them off seems hard because it will spoil the scene. You will see why when I finish chapter 10. Since I 'm quite free, and don't have any idea to proceed with my other story, I''m working on this one.

**Author's note **(19 October 2005)

1) Okay, this will make me looks like a politician (you know, make a promise, then break it), but I decided that I could continue up to the fight to Berlin. Yeah, someone may ask, "why not write to the end?" I would, but right now I have ideas for up to that part. I can say that it will be some sort of a climax, so even if I end at that part, Fallen Angel could be considered as "Book One"

2) I don't follow some authors' way of putting replies to comments on top. You can see that in my other fiction, I also adhere to this format. Its not that I don't appreciate you reviewers, but I want to all of you to be able to just get to the story straightaway.

3) To Lacus fans reading this, one of the possible questions they may have is "_Why not Lacus?" _Now, that is a good question. Officially, I like her. But I prefer Lynn Minmei to her. Some people may perceive that as an insult (please ask any Robotech fans about Minmei), but I do respect Lacus. Except that I feel the writers of the series somehow managed (and wanted) to elevate her and Kira to near deity status. But the real reasons Lacus is not piloting any mobile suits in this story are:

a) Lacus is not dead. So I can't have her being resurrected. If I'm going to rewrite the story I will probably consider Meer.

b) She is 'expensive'. Please don't misunderstand my statement. If you see Gundam Seed and Gundam Seed Destiny, she commands a fleet of spaceships. Now, I'm not going to comment on that, but consider this fact. What happen if her mobile suit exploded, killing her in the middle of a battle? Wouldn't her people be left in a lurch? Sure, we can have her being gifted with superb piloting skills second to Kira, but still, a pilot's place is in the battlefield and a commander's place is in the command centre. You don't see Gilbert piloting any mobile suit, don't you? As for Raww La Creuset, he's still a pilot and not the commanding officer of ZAFT army during the first war. Patrick Zala was.

c) There will be no conflict between her and Kira.

d) I think I saw someone writing a promising fanfiction on Lacus piloting a brand new mobile suit. So no need to crowd, eh?

4) As for Heine... Please note that I put the sign " as in "humane". Well, I can't say I emphatise with the Murasames and Astrays he chopped down. In Gundam Seed Destiny, if I'm to name the side that I dislike, it'll be ORB. They keep having that dead moustached fellow in GS spouting idealistic nonsense. Okay, one scene is forgivable, but everytime it has to do with ORB? Come on. And they have that softie as a commander. Why do ORB have stupid leaders? Can't they have a Djibril or Gilbert clone instead? I'm getting over my head in my rants. Okay. Heine is there because I need someone to pilot Gaia. That simple. Why? Because, Minerva managed to recover Gaia and poof! It disappeared from the ship only to reappear in Eternal. I'm assuming that they have two Gaia. So, where did the first Gaia go? It was designed to be based on Minerva, so why take it away? The damage caused by Shinn was not that heavy. So, in this story, you will see him around because he'll be piloting the Black Gaia, not because of TM Revolution whose singer voiced Heine. And... without revealing much, Heine is there for another reason, which I believe is the reason why Gilbert assigned him to Minerva in the first place.

5) I'll post Cherubim's stats after I finished editing it. Maybe later. I'm too lazy to describe most of its weaponry, so by having a stats page, you'll know what I refer to. Since the stats will be story related, I don't think fanfiction will mind.


	6. ZAFT's 'Archangel'

"Because I wanted to stop all of you from doing something foolish like that again," Athrun said, eyeing them. "I know there was an issue with dropping Junius Seven on earth, causing this war, but what follows after that is definitely Earth Alliance's fault. Even then, PLANT is making its best efforts to end this foolishness as soon as possible. But what all you are doing is making the situation even more chaotic"

"Do you really think so?" Kira asked. "Then, what about that 'Lacus Clyne'? Just who is that person who is imitating Lacus on PLANT right now? And why is Lacus almost killed by Coordinators? They were from a Special Force, no less"

Athrun was confused with the question. He has asked Captain Talia to go out to search for Archangel, and managed to find Mirrilia Haww by accident. She has arranged for a meeting between him and Kira and Cagalli near an ancient ruin by the sea. Although he could answer some of the questions, he was shocked by Kira admission that Lacus was almost killed.

"Who would want her dead? And why? Until that matter can be cleared up, I can't trust PLANT either" Kira stopped asking and gazed at Athrun, waiting for answers.

Athrun hesitated, not knowing how to answer them.

"Athrun?" Cagalli called.

"Well, if Lacus was being targeted for assignation, then the matter has become more serious now. But for you to be saying that you can't believe the Chairman and PLANT because of that, isn't it unfair, Kira?"

"Athrun"

"There are people who have different opinions at PLANT, just like the Junius Seven perpetrators. That attack may be planned by a small rogue group that Chairman doesn't know"

"Athrun…!"

"You should think about that possibility!" Despite saying that, Athrun had gnawing doubt in his mind. Maybe it was because his ex-fiancée's was in danger. "It's too easy to be biased, just because they were Coordinators"

"Well, that's true but…"

"I'll investigate about that matter after I return to the ship. I also want to know the truth about what happened. So all of you please return to ORB now"

"And you…" Cagalli said.

"If you want to prevent battles… if you don't want ORB fighting… Then do something with that treaty with the Earth Alliance first. Once the battle starts, it's already too late.

"But…" Cagalli looked down. "I understand" She then looked at Athrun. "So you're not going back? To Archangel? To ORB?"

Athrun looked away. "As long as ORB is the country it used to be, we will be traveling down the same road"

"Athrun!"

"I've reenlisted in ZAFT. I can't go back now"

"But that…"

Athrun saw Cagalli wearing the ring he had given her and kept quiet.

Kira put his hand on Cagalli's shoulder. "Kira"

Kira looked at Athrun. "So you're going to fight Earth Alliance as part of ZAFT?"

"Until all of this ends, it can't be helped. The more we drag our feet, the more will die"

"Then, will you fight ORB like last time?"

"I'd rather not, but with current situation, I have no choice" He remembered Heine's words. "All of you know what Earth Alliance is doing. We need to stop them! That's why I'm telling you to cancel the treaty and pull back ORB's military"

"But Athrun…" Kira said. "We know that, but we don't you to fight against ORB"

"Kira" Heine's image came to his mind. _"I saw how you take them down, by shooting at their weapons or wings, leaving them alive"_

"It's not just ORB. All people who lost their lives in battles wouldn't come back to life"

Athrun trembled with anger. "Don't you dare say that! You of all people should know about that fact! Are you telling me to let them attack Minerva and just shrug off when they killed people I know there! Do you want me to say, 'Okay, I'll let you kill them! As long as you're from ORB, it's all right'. Is that it?"

"Athrun"

"You said about protecting ORB. But how about the lives of people on Minerva lost because you destroyed the cannon? Due to the explosion alone, three people died from accidents while some were injured when the ship crashed into the sea. Do you really think that 'Oh, 'I'll just destroy the cannon as there's nobody nearby and they will live?' How naïve! You may think that it's better to let the ORB attackers live. I think so too. But while it's easy to take the high and mighty ground when you're the outsider, it's not the same case with me. And remember, your hands are stained with bloods of people whose lives you have taken to be saying such a naïve thing"

"I know that. That's why I'm sick of fighting"

Athrun looked at his friend with regret. "That's why you must stop. Stop doing things like that and return to ORB. Understand?" He turned away and Cagalli called him. He looked at her ring and remembered how she almost married Jona. "There are some things that I can understand but can't accept" He turned back to front and continued walking.

"Athrun!" This time it was Kira's voice that stopped him.

"What is it?" He didn't even look back this time. "The pilot who controlled the Gundam that fought me. Who is he?"

"It's a 'she'. And she belongs to the Earth Alliance. Although Minerva thinks that she's part of a mercenary group, I don't think so. She seems to have something against all of you. Why are you interested in her? You didn't ask about other mobile suits before. Do you know her?"

Kira became flustered because he himself didn't know how to answer the question. "Er… no"

"She also piloted a stolen ZAFT mobile suit. I'm not sure about her intention, but at least at that time she helped Minerva properly"

"Athrun!" Cagalli said.

He was undeterred. "Even if you want stop Minerva from firing its cannon, you could fired at the cannon before it was fully charged. The resulting explosion would have been lesser. Freedom's weapon range and accuracy allows you to do that, don't they? But you wanted to prevent Minerva from repairing and using it in the near future against ORB. That in turn will cause more deaths aboard Minerva" He stopped and wiped something from his face. "I don't know what will happen in the future, but know this. I consider all of you as my friends and would do anything to protect you. Those at Minerva, they're my friends too. You don't know how much it pains me to say the words I said just now. Forgive me" He continued walking, this time not stopping.

* * *

Still in his civilian clothes, Athrun stormed along the corridor of Minerva, still in turmoil over the meeting with his friends. He was so lost in though that he didn't even see the stack of boxes moving in front of him. Only when he was sprawled on the floor did he realize what happened. He groaned as he rubbed his head. The first thing that came into his mind was that his face was against something soft. 

"Emm… Commander… Athrun? Can… can you get off me?"

Athrun's eyes became wide and he quickly scampered away, sitting on the cold steel floor. He looked at the owner of the voice. Then he remembered her. The one always communicating with him and other pilots during battle. "Sorry, Meyrin. I wasn't looking"

"Er, it's nothing," Meyrin said, face flushing.

Athrun wondered why she was blushing before he realized where he was a moment ago when he saw her straightening her collar. He looked away, shame-faced. It was fortunate that no one was around to see them in a compromising situation. Then he heard a shuffling sound and turned to face her trying to gather documents and other items that littered the floor. He has forgotten about them. "Here, let me help you"

"You don't have to. It's my fault for not looking where I walk"

"No, it's my fault. I'm the one who supposed to look where I walk, and not running into people," Athrun countered as he picked a folder.

"But…"

"Don't worry," he smiled. "I insist on helping you, as a member of FAITH," he said jokingly.

Meyrin giggled. They continued picking things up until everything were accounted for. Athrun carried all of the boxes, despite her protest.

"So, where are we going, Commander Meyrin?" he said, smiling.

"Comman…"

"What's our mission, Commander?" Athrun said, cutting her off, "Bomb the disposal area with this? What's our mission code?"

Meyrin was about to say something when stopped and smiled. "Our mission's code is 'Mary Poppins'"

"Mary Poppins?"

"According to the information we have, the enemy have captured the Information room. It is important for us to recapture the whole area, and conduct some intelligence operation"

"Yes, Ma'am"

As they walked to the Information room, they passed through some people who were working on something. They looked up and smiled at the two, probably wondering why a member of FAITH was helping a junior officer. But Athrun was oblivious to such thoughts; he was busy thinking about them and the others he met along the way.

He was right. The people on Minerva, they were his friends too. Athrun smiled.

* * *

Heine Westenfluss looked at the captured Gaia in awe. When Shin and Rey reported about the Extended Research and Production facility, the whole ship crew was shocked at what they found. It was an inhuman place where experiments were conducted to produce human CPU whose purpose was to fight in battles. What follows was Gaia tried to attack the facility. Despite being at Minerva for backup, he has heard about the fight between their two mobile suits and the stolen mobile suit. In the end, Shin and Athrun managed to defeat Gaia. But to find out that the pilot was an Extended that was produced at the facility was simply amazing. He motioned toward a dark skin technician. "Hey you! Can you come here for a minute?" 

The technician came and saluted.

"Youlan, isn't it?"

"Yes, sir" Youlan was happy a member of FAITH knew his name personally.

"Can you estimate how long will it take to repair this mobile suit?"

"It would take quite some time. After all, Commander Zala and Shinn damaged it badly. We need to wait for spare parts"

"Is that so?" Heine nodded. "Can you tell me when it's ready?"

"Sure… but permission to ask, sir?"

"Go ahead"

"Why do you want to know about it?"

"I would like to pilot it"

"But…"

Heine patted Youlan's back in friendly manner. "Don't worry. I'll be sure to ask Captain's permission before doing that. I can't have you landing in hot soup, right?"

"Er… yes"

"Good. When will your shift be over?"

"In another twenty minutes"

"Ah. Good. Come to the mess after that and I will treat you dinner"

"REALLY!"

"Heine Westenfluss never lie"

"Thank you very much"

"It's a small matter" Heine said while leaving the repair bay.

Youlan walked to his friend who was doing some maintenance repair on Savior. "Heh! Eat your heart out! Commander Westenfluss is going to treat me to dinner"

"I…"

"You are envious. That's okay"

"Maybe not. But Minerva is a military ship, not a pleasure cruiser"

"Of course it is. What are you trying to say, Vino?"

"Since when you have to pay to eat at the mess?"

* * *

"How is he, Athrun-san?" 

"Lunamaria" Athrun waited for her to approach him before they continued walking together along the corridor. "Captain Gladys is very angry with him. After all he has broken at least two sections in bringing in Gaia pilot without permission. I just hope they don't throw the book at him"

"I hope so too" She looked down guiltily. She has spied on him when he met Kira and the others. "Do you think she will be brought along with us to Gibraltar?"

"Who knows, but I think that may be the case. She is an Extended, after all. She needed drugs to be administered to her. Drugs that we don't even know of to begin with. I just hope the facility at Gibraltar can do something for her"

"Are you just saying that to make you sound heroic?"

Both of them turned to see Shin was behind them, looking angry.

"Shin!" Lunamaria admonished.

"After all, wouldn't your job be easier if she die?" Shin continued.

Athrun knew better to provoke him into a verbal match because the boy was concerned about Stellar's well being and could get angry easily.

"Shin!" Lunamaria admonished again.

Athrun shook his head. "You remembered what I told you? About never let your anger cloud your judgment? If any, it was you who would have killed her if you didn't stop at that time"

Shin was unprepared for the comment and kept quiet.

"While we may be forced to kill our enemies, it would not do to kill unnecessarily. Although we're in the military, don't forget about your own humanity. And don't just be merciful toward Stellar. Other enemies are human too"

"You remember about her?" Shin said.

Athrun nodded. "After all, who could forget about that incident at the beach where we found the two of you together?"

Cheeks crimson, Shin tried to protest. "We don't do anything"

"I didn't say you do anything either" Athrun continued walking. "I'm going to visit her. That's the least I can do"

* * *

Barzhakov looked at the map of the sea route while rubbing his moustache. "That Minerva is keeping itself very busy lately, isn't it?" 

"According to our sources, it has found the Extended research facility at Londoniba Lab and is going to Gibraltar to report regarding the matter to ZAFT's headquarters there"

"That's good" He brought out a pipe. "Resorting to our former enemy to solve our own problem… If someone told me about doing this during the previous war, I would have tossed him off the airlock"

"We have done all we could to make it as if the staff at the place rebelled and committed suicide"

"Good. They have it coming for being involved with that ghastly project. So now all we have to do is wait for Minerva to arrive at their base safely"

"That can be a problem. We have detected a combination of ORB and Alliance's forces nearby"

"ORB, huh? They're going to set an ambush. Very persistent, aren't they?"

"So what shall we do? Should we officially help them in battle as well?"

"No. It's too early for us to decide whether we should decide to join ZAFT. After all, according to what Terrence said to me, this Gilbert can't be fully trusted" He put some tobacco on his pipe and lighted it.

"Sir! No smoking on the bridge" A female officer reminded him.

Barzhakov muttered some profanities and put out his pipe. "He looked at the ship's petite navigator. "Thames, Initiate take-off sequence. Set the bearing 25 degrees southwest"

"Yes"

The ship's siren's alerted its personnel regarding the take-off sequence and asked them to return to their stations.

Barzhakov adjusted his cap. "Proceed in that direction for twenty minutes. Then engage the Shadow Dancer and change our direction to follow Minerva"

Shadow Dancer was an improvement over Mirage Colloid. Instead of using gaseous solution to deflect light, the system used a thin layer of silicon polymer imbedded with the micro prisms used in Mirage Colloid. The result was that anything that uses the system could remain unseen for a very long time. However, the system used a lot of energy and beam based weapons cannot be used when the system was activated, as it would damage the system. Besides that, the silicon polymer could easily be damaged, affecting the ship's stealth ability.

"Where are you going sir?"

"Smoking my pipe"

* * *

"Captain Barzhakov, According to our calculation, we're about to enter Minerva's radar range" 

How about Earth Alliance and ORB Military? Are they there as well?"

"Yes"

"Prepare to engage cloaking"

The female officer that reprimanded him for smoking at the bridge was issuing command to the gunnery control. "Gottfried One to Six have been disabled. Neutron Jammer Canceller activated. Fission generator activated and power feed has been diverted fully to the Shadow Dancer system"

A male technician manning the radar system and CIWS spoke, "Radar system offline. Switching to long range infra red sensor. CIWS targeting system switched to iris tracking system. All personnel manning the CIWS, please keep your eyes on your screen at all time"

"Missile launcher tubes are closed. Cannons hatches are secured. Emergency exhaust cooling system is on standby"

Thames, the ship's pilot reported, "Thruster reduced to minimum"

Barzhakov nodded. "Activate Shadow Dancer!"

Little by little Cherubim became transparent, as if it was swallowed by sunlight. Less than a minute, it has disappeared from naked eyes and radar.

"Sir, cloaking is successful, with 96.7 efficiency"

"Very good. Tell her to prepare to launch. Meanwhile, get me Minerva's captain"

* * *

She flipped the 'on' button and the machine slowly hummed to life. Then the screen in front of her began to display some information. 

Mobile Suit Neo Operation System

**G** eneration

**U** nsubdued

**N** etworked

**D** elimiter

**A** ssisted

**M** odule

Series AVIC-T15 Fallen LA-SE3P

Z.A.F.T (_Ptched by Terrence d mn_)

Terrence's face came on the screen. "Just remember not to switch it on unless necessary"

"Yes, mother"

"Father"

"Whatever"

"We have established contact with Minerva. Please assist them as they will be bringing the reports regarding the facility to their headquarters. Don't worry about picking anything. We're asking them to give us a Force Silhouette flyer. Prepaid. When you get back I'll show you the video of Minerva's captain's reaction upon hearing our request. That will be good for some laughs. So, just go there, kick some ORB's boosters and come back home before the crap they serve in mess hall got cold and hard"

She nodded. "I know"

"And Fllay…"

"Yes?"

"Archangel will probably arrive at the scene too"

"Don't worry about it. I know my priorities" She pressed a button to cut Terrence off.

"ZGMF-X16S FALLEN, YOU ARE CLEAR FOR TAKE OFF"

"Fllay Alster, launching!"

* * *

1

* * *

**ChibiRulz YanLan** --> Coo. Thanks. Well, since in GS, Fllay died without much characterization, so I'm going to reinterpret her according what I believe is her 'real' self. Maybe I'm wrong about her, but, I believe that nobody do bad things without a good reason (at least to that person). Nobody does thing that he/she feels is bad willingly. But that fact is open to discussion, so we'll just skip it. Anyway, thanks. 

**Zidane Lightning Saix** --> Wow. You already know I'm going to write regarding Cherubim's opinion on Gilbert Dullindal. Are you my clone? Or am I your clone? Maybe we're Newtypes. :-0 As for Cherubim, well, I was going to make it an Archangel clone. But upon reading your comment, I took a closer look at Archangel and Girty Lue. And I realized that you're right. Archangel doesn't seem to be a suitable ship for covert mission. Even Dominion, in its dark color scheme seemed a bit cute. I never liked the ship's design that much, anyway. Then I took a look at Girty Lue. Now, that's my kind of ship! Evil and sinister looking, and it comes in blue, my favorite color. Then I realized that I can't use Girty Lue because technology wise, Cherubim is different than Girty Lue. It was after all, conceptualized to be an 'evil' version of Archangel, so it should duplicate some of Archangel capabilities. And Girty Lue which is newer, is not an atmospheric ship. So, we have a new Cherubim, complete with small history that explains its development. It would be posted after this chapter. Shinn? It will be a long... long... long... long... time before that comes. I can't promise on that part though. I'm in a roll, so there's a lot of ideas up to Kira and Fllay's battle.

**nick2951 --> **Well, this is sooner than I expected, but I'm going to take a long holiday, away from internet connections. Ah, to be away from civilization. Good thing I have my laptop to keep my company.

**n/a who said, "Flay sucks and should die. Kira/Lacus!"** --> Thank you for taking some time to share your opinion with me. Oh, maybe you're not reading this and has moved on. But to be polite, just in case you're reading this, I would like to reuse Gilbert's words, "I will stand firmly against you with my desire filled with peace and justice". Well, basically, I respect your opinion and acknowledge it. At the same time, since I already have my opinion, so I shouldn't worry about it. Have a a good day.

**v4n3s5aCH4N** (VanessaChan, right? I was wondering why the strange coding) --> Thank you. Well, this is a bit of a teaser, but they wouldn't meet anytime soon, at least in 'normal' situation. But they will 'communicate'. Wow, I almost type the full synopsis. Should remember not to do that.

**bash **--> I like her too. Pity she died. Oh well, that's why I write this story.

**ladie-babyblu --> **Thanks, although I'm not really sure which one you're referring to. The one where I put the reviews below the story? or my replies to the reviews? Then again, what really matters is you review and I'm thankful for that. I'll try to be more elaborative from now, but for your information, Minerva is ZAFT's Archangel in GSD. Cherubim, is of course not there and exist specifically in this fiction.

**Termony --> **Well, Termony, although our idea is similar regarding Technology, I don't think we have the same ideas for our own story, right? Because, talking about the Technology (I'm assuming you're talking about bringing someone who's dead back to life), I don't think its of any consequence if we start from the same starting place. People has been talking about resurrection for ages, and I'm rehashing their ideas to explain why Fllay was still alive. **Gundam Seed Destiny: A New Saga, **a good story, uses cloning to explain how someone with red hair (Fllay, I guess) came back to life. But, I'm sure you can find another sci-fic ealier than this that talk about cloning. Say, X-Files? or maybe Star Trek? The point I want to make is that, don't worry about using the Technology in your story. What matters is how you go after that. Sure, if Fallen, Cherubim, Terrence Shauzer, Delimiter, Shadow Dancer, SIREN and AURORA starts appearing sporadically in your fic then I'll accuse you of duplicating ideas indiscriminately. But aside from that, the skies the limit. Or maybe you want to make an AU. A Gundam, but in Medieval Age. Gundam is a giant contraption used by Kingdoms to fight each other. That's similar to a game in PS that I forgot already. Oh well.

** Author's note (24 October 2005)**

1) It will be a while before I update this as I'm going on a vacation. And I'm going to have my paper exam next month too. Ah, to be back in the academic life. I almost forgot how boring it is to sit in a 'drone' hall.

2) I'll be posting Cherubim's stats before I go off. I wouldn't reply to any new comments and reviews at that page.


	7. Battle of Crete

Captain Talia narrowed her eyes as she watched the battles between ORB's Murasames and Fallen. Earlier, ORB naval force has fired fragmentation shells, impending Impulse and Savior's launch. The tactical advantage was quickly seized by their Murasames to make a bomb run on Minerva. It was a fortunate thing for Minerva that the mercenary ship was there to help. She shook her head. No, only an idiot would accept that explanation. Cherubim had known about ORB's ambush. It has to. There was no other explanation. Had it was sincere, it could have told Minerva about that; it capitalized on that advanced knowledge to make a profit instead. Such realization made her angry. "MEYRIN"

"Yes, ma'am"

"Why haven't Impulse and Savior launched yet?"

"We have problems with pneumatic systems in launch pad door number One and Two. The launch pad number Three has to be cleared from fragmentation shrapnel"

"If I may suggest a way, Captain" Fallen's pilot's appeared on the screen.

Captain Talia gave her a distrusting glare. "What?"

"If you allow me, I can blast open the two doors. It would be faster that way. And if there's no one at launch pad number 3, I can also help to clear it" Fallen shot a Murasame down while narrowly avoiding a laser beam.

The mercenary really has her field day, exhorting incredulous payments and doing anything she wanted. But there was logic to her words. It was the fastest way to open the two doors. "Very well. I'll permit it"

A second later both launch pad number One and Two's doors were destroyed. The repair crew quickly worked to clear the debris while Fallen stood guard. Athrun's face came online. "I'm launching"

"I leave this ship's safety in your hand," Talia said.

"Understood"

Heine's face appeared on another screen. "With your permission, allow me to give a name to this mission, Captain"

Talia sensed that Heine was attempting to defuse the tension everyone was feeling at that time. "Very well, the ship's log will refer to this battle by the name. What do you suggest?"

"Mary Poppins"

Shinn's furious face came online. "What kind of stupid name is that?"

Then Lunamaria came online, smiling. "Hey. I like it! How about you, Athrun?"

Athrun was shocked to even say a word.

"See?" Heine said, smiling "Athrun didn't object to it"

Shinn groaned.

Talia was smiling as well, despite the current situation. "Very well. The catapult One and Two have been cleared. Operation Mary Poppins starts" She turned to Meyrin whose face was beet red. "Meyrin!"

"Ahh… yes! Savior, Gouf, you're cleared for take off"

The two mobile suits launched. Meanwhile, Fallen move to the side of launch pad number Three and used its boosters to blow away the fragments.

"Meyrin, tell Heine to provide aerial support for the ship's perimeter"

"Understood. Both Zakus are on the ship while Gouf have just launched. Will relay the order to Commander Heine"

Despite having all of its mobile suits launched, Minerva was still having a hard time trying fight off enemy's onslaught. Despite every mobile suit, Fallen included, doing their best, the enemy's Murasames and Windams are inflicting more and more damage to Minerva. It was during this time a lone Murasame managed to fly near Minerva's bridge and transformed, its laser rifle aimed at the bridge. Despite the bridge being inside the bunker, there was no way it could stand a laser shot at point blank range. Everyone at bridge could only wait for their impending doom. But the Murasame didn't get the chance. There were two reasons for that.

One, its rifle was destroyed from above. Two, the beams penetrating its armor from somewhere else killed its pilot instantly.

* * *

Kira gritted his teeth in frustration, while maneuvering Freedom to cut the wings of a nearby Murasames. Despite aiming at the gun of the Murasame that was attacking Minerva, his effort was in vain because it was destroyed anyway. He looked at the mobile suit that shot it. It was Fallen that shot it, using the beam gattling its right hand while firing a beam rifle at another Murasame. Then, as if knowing that it was being watched, it turned toward Freedom for a while. Meanwhile, Freedom's arrival has served to distract ORB's military for the moment, as they stopped their attack and turned their attention toward Freedom and Strike Rouge.

"ATTENTION ORB FORCE. THIS IS CAGALI YULA ATHA. PLEASE CEASE YOUR MILITARY OPERATION AND RETURN TO ORB"

Freedom watched Fallen cautiously.

"WHAT IS ORB'S MILITARY DOING HERE! THIS IS NOT OUR BATTLE"

Fallen turned toward other direction, scanning in front of Minerva.

"WHY DO YOU WANT TO SINK THAT SHIP? WILL DOING THAT WILL PROTECT ORB?"

Kira couldn't understand why he felt so uncomfortable at that time looking at the blue and black mobile suit.

"IF ORB'S OWN MILITARY COULDN'T UPHOLD ITS OWN IDEAL, THEN WHO WILL?"

Kira was brought out of his reverie when his cockpit signaled incoming missile. He quickly guided Freedom in front of Strike Rouge and used its CIWS to shoot down the missiles. It was Impulse that launched the missiles. Freedom moved toward Impulse and tried to slash its head.

Inside the cockpit, Shinn was livid with anger. "Don't mess with me, you bastard!" He evaded the slashed and counter attacked. His irises became larger as he entered SEED mode.

Concerned, Athrun went in to intercept Freedom. "Kira, what are you doing here? I've told you to return to ORB"

"Athrun!"

Meanwhile, commanded by Jona, the ORB Military continued their attacks, with numerous Murasames and Astrays dotting the sky and naval vessels sailing through the water. Despite Archangel firing its cannons to stop them, all it managed was to stop them for a while, before they continued their assault again.

* * *

Sting Oakley was very excited as he pressed the shoot button. Shooting down both Savior and Freedom down would give him something to brag about to Auel. After all, who has killed two powerful mobile suits with just one shot? But to his disappointment, the two of them evaded the shot, with Savior turning toward Chaos and firing its twin laser cannon. He quickly maneuvered his mobile suit to evade the attack, but it was too late.

The lasers hit Chaos's left hand and its head, damaging them. Chaos's cockpit began to bathe in red warning lights as it began to descend at high speed. Sting had no choice but to return to his carrier. He hoped that he could at least crash near it so that it could be recovered safely. Somehow he wasn't careful enough to prepare himself for any counter attack.

Inside Saviour, Athrun turned back his attention to Freedom to see it cutting Gouf's wings and left hand. Somehow, during their battle, both Chaos and Gouf had sneaked up on two of them, with Gouf wanting to attack Freedom while Chaos wanting to blast all of them away. As Heine's mobile suit crashed to sea, a stray laser hit its head, setting it on fire. But the fire didn't last long as the sea water quickly extinguished the flames. But it was obvious that Heine would be out of battle.

"KIRA! STOP IT!" Athrun shouted into his communicator.

* * *

The Murasames was about to go on another strafing attack when Strike Rouge stood between them and Minerva.

"Please stop!" Cagalli pleaded. "What we're doing is wrong!"

The squadron leader hesitated for a moment. "Lady Cagalli…"

"How are we going to protect ORB's ideal when we're going against it?"

"We the military follow our supreme commander's leader, Jona Roma Saran. When we came here, we have resigned to our death. Now please step aside, Lady Cagalli, or I shall use force on you" His Murasame dashed forward and grabbed Strike Rouge's feet. It was about to throw it backward when he saw a beam rifle aimed at Strike Rouge. "Cagali-sama!" His Murasame pushed Strike Rouge behind it, and covered it self using its shield. He looked at the black and blue mobile suit with red trimming. "BASTARD! SNIPE AT LADY CAGALI, WILL YOU?"

His Murasame transformed into fighter jet mode and sped toward Fallen. "You two!" he called at his wing mates. "Let us show that mobile suit not to mess with ORB"

"Roger!"

"Roger!"

"Lady Cagalli. We will show you how ORB fight to protect its ideal and freedom. We will show you its power"

* * *

Inside Fallen, Fllay was looking at the incoming mobile armors calmly. She flicked the communicator open. "Minerva. Permission to suggest a strategy"

Fallen kicked the squadron leader's Murasame into the sea.

"We're listening" Captain Talia said.

"Can you ask Savior to keep fighting Freedom?"

"Why?"

Fallen shot the remaining two Murasames down. "I believe we can shift some of ORB's air force attack off Minerva" She looked at Impulse which was busy fighting Abyss. "Where is that ugly looking thing in gold?"

"Gouf was brought down by Freedom"

"I see. I suppose I will have to improvise. Please ask Red and White Zaku to only engage the enemies that came too close to the ship. I can't have them disrupting my plan. If this plan works, we'll be able to bring down many of their mobile suits. Will you agree to my suggestion?"

"Very well, we'll do it your way"

"Thank you" She aimed at a nearby Windam and shot it. "Cherubim. Can you hear me?"

"Cherubim here. Having some problem?"

"I need some help" Fallen evaded a beam. "Can you fire two fragmentation missiles at an area?"

"Why the hell do you want that for?"

"Just trust me"

"It can be done, but they would have to be launched via catapult in our current state"

"Do that. Here's the coordinates"

"Okay. Would you like some fries with that?"

"No. But please set the proximity sensors of micro munitions to 2 meters"

"Understood. Two large missiles with some bomblets with extra distance"

* * *

Aboard Minerva, the staff operating the radar system was shocked. "Captain! There are two incoming missiles from behind us"

"Where are they heading?"

"According to the calculation… In front of Archangel. Should we shot them down?"

"No. Let them be. I want to see what those mercenaries are doing"

* * *

"Incoming missiles" Mirrillia Haww said. "Wait. The two of them exploded" Her expression turned fearful. "Incoming fragmentation shower. Cagalli! Get out of there"

The whole Archangel watched in horror as Strike Rouge was bombarded by fiery rain. When it stopped, they were relieved that it was all right.

"Cagalli! Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I guess. But it has diminished some of Rouge's power. I don't think the Variable Phase armor could last against another attack like that"

* * *

"We missed! It's your fault for asking us to set the proximity sensor to 2 meters"

"No. You did great. That was just to bait them"

"Bait what?"

"Please fire again in two minutes. This time, fire four missiles, with two every launch"

* * *

Mirillia's face appeared on the screen. "Cagalli! There are two missiles coming your way!"

Strike Rouge was about to leave the area when a shot disable one of its main boosters, and another one crippled its right feet. The pinkish mobile suit remained helplessly at its place.

"CAGALLI!"

Inside it, Cagalli could only watch soundlessly as the two missiles sped toward her.

* * *

Despite being in SEED mode, Kira couldn't get Freedom away from Savior. Impulse that has just destroyed Abyss joined in the fray, making it more difficult.

"ATHRUN!"

"I told you not to interfere!"

"CAGALLI'S IN DANGER!" With that, Savior stopped its attacked and moved away. However Impulse was still on its tail, shooting at it.

"FUCK HER!" Shinn's voice came on the intercom.

* * *

The missiles burst in the middle of the flight, scattering their deadly payloads. With Strike Rouge's power in yellow zone, she could not hope to come out that predicament alive. However, Cagalli had to try her best. Her unit's CIWS destroyed some of them, but they were too small to aim perfectly. She closed her eyes.

There were multiple explosions but she was still alive. She opened her eyes to see few Murasames and Astrays in front of her mobile suit, sheltering it from the falling bomblets. "You guys!"

"We will follow Lord Jona's orders to attack Minerva, but there is no way for us to let you be killed, Lady Cagalli"

"Yeah! We rather die than let that happen"

Cagalli was touched hearing that from her men.

"Sir, I'm hit!"

"Where?"

Another voice said "Below. ARGH!"

One by one they began to fall as Fallen shot them down.

* * *

"Just as I thought. The ORB's Princess is too precious to them. Cherubim! Fire two more followed by another two as fast as possible"

"Understood"

"Minerva. Archangel will try to shot down the missiles. Can you shoot down its countermeasures?"

The line was static for a few seconds as a shell landed not very far from the Minerva's bridge, causing a large explosion. "We… will try… CIWS not at full strengths"

"Ok. I'm counting on you"

Fallen turned Freedom and fired its gattling gun to stop it, distracting Freedom long enough for Impulse to catch up to it.

"Savior! Are we supposed to sit by the side, watching others fighting?"

"No, but…"

"Then scuttle the approaching ships, unless you want Minerva to become a very expensive artificial reef"

"…"

* * *

Fallen turned toward the ORB's mobile suits protecting the Strike Rouge from the fragmentation munitions and promptly shot them down. "Very well. I'll do it instead"

Cagalli couldn't stop tears from coming out of her eyes as she saw more and more ORB's mobile suits protecting her crashing to the sea. That wasn't what protecting ORB was all about. They we're not supposed to be there in the first place.

A Murasame moved nearby. "Lady Cagalli! This place is too dangerous. Please return … AHH!" It exploded as Impulse's beam pierced its cockpit.

* * *

"Sir!" Amagi reported "We have scored another direct hit on Minerva"

"Yeahooo!" Jona cheered. "That's how it supposed to be. A few more and we will get it for sure"

Colonel Todaka gritted his teeth.

"Sir! Three of our ships have been sunk by the enemy's 'Black Freedom'. Black Freedom was the name ORB military called Fallen after the first battle. Another naval officer reported. "And… it's…it has painted many of our ships with laser"

The term was used to indicate designating potential targets using laser so that it would be easier to be attacked from far away. Todaka wondered why the enemy's mobile suit would be targeting their ships using laser. After all many of Minerva's cannons were damaged already, and those still operational were beam-based. Even if there were enemy ships hidden nearby, it would be useless to fire any cannons or missiles as they will be intercepted by ORB's ships. Unless… _'They were going to fire the same kind fragmentation shells missiles that we used earlier'_ "Tell everyone on the deck of those ships to go below, including those in the cannon domes. Quickly!"

Jona didn't know what was happening. "Why are you telling them to go down? That will…"

"SHUT UP!" Todaka told him and turned toward radar operator. "Any sign of attack?"

"Not yet…" Three minutes later, the officer shouted. "EIGHT MISSILES COMING FROM 5 O'CLOCK!"

"Tell the ships to shoot them down"

"Too late! The missiles have dispersed!"

A few seconds passed in uncomfortable silence before Todaka asked his communication officer to contact other ships. After a few exchanges, it became known to everyone on Takemikazuchi's bridge that only two ships aside from itself that were operational. The others had their weaponry and bridges destroyed.

Colonel Todaka made his decision. "Takemikazuchi will go the front"

Jona became panic. "But, why do we need to do that…"

"Didn't you say that we need to destroy Minerva? That's why we need to go there ourselves. The other ships were taken out"

"But… but…but… this is a carrier"

"Which is why we will show to the world how powerful and determined ORB's military really is"

* * *

Inside Minerva, Shin's voice echoed throughout the bridge "MINERVA! SEND THE SWORD SILHOUTTE! I'LL CUT DOWN THEIR CARRIER"

"Permission granted" _'I really hope that will be the last of them. And to think a part of this ship was repaired by Morgenroete of ORB a few months ago'_ The battle has gone for far too long. Minerva has lost all of its mobile suits except Impulse. Two of them, Savior and Gouf were destroyed by Freedom alone. Despite their intention not wanting to antagonize Minerva, Freedom and Archangel were doing just that. If the situation was different, Captain Talia would have ordered for the legged ship and its protector to be destroyed. At that time however, it was best not to do anything against them as Minerva was at a severe disadvantage.

* * *

"Takemikazuchi! Stop!" Cagalli shouted, her face was wet with tears.

Even though it was heavily damaged, with its deck burning, it showed no sign of stopping. But most of the crews have left the ship. It was possible that whoever was onboard was going to try to ram the carrier into Minerva. But Impulse was there and wouldn't let such thing happen.

"STTOOPPP!"

Impulse turned toward Strike Rouge and shot its rifle. It caught her by surprise, causing her to stare at the incoming green ray of death. Then her view became dark.

"Are you going to stand there and be killed? Is the life of the Representative Attha that cheap?"

It was that infernal black and blue mobile suit again. "THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" She said it with so much anger that she didn't realize that she bit her lips and blood drip from them. "You have caused this slaughter. I'll get you, BITCH, if it's the last thing I do!"

"I understand. We never did get along that time did we?"

"Huh?"

The screens that allowed Cagalli to see outside of her cockpit became dark, and the speakers went silent. Outside, Fallen stored its swords after cutting off Strike Rouge's head and destroying other visual and auditory sensors. Without them, Cagalli couldn't see or hear Takemikazuchi's explosion.

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**Nick2951** -- I hope you don't mind me answering all of your reviews and questions all at once, but I think its better this way. Anyway, thanks for your words. I manage to be get near to an internet facility and I'm finishing chapter about the battle at Crete. And, you're right, you have seen the part on Cherubim's stats. I didn't add a new chapter about the battle at the Crete, but rather I add some sort of a bridging chapter, since ladie-babyblu pointed out something I neglected earlier on. For some readers, there's supposed to be a chapter to help them to understand what was going on, who's who, you know… Anyway, this chapter is a new one. I guarantee you that. Sorry, not so much on Kira and Fllay in this chapter as it somewhat follows the phase in GSD, but not to worry, we still have Berlin and ORB.

**Zidane Lightning Saix** -- I know the previous chapter and this chapter will make Meyrin seem so prominent, but trust me, she's there for a reason. Maybe you're wondering why the scene up there regarding the operation name, well, let's say it's also there for a reason. A good reason, apart from the fact that one of the mission names in the Macross VFX-2 that I played is "Mary Poppin". Yeah, I like Macross too, except the part where they sing the aliens to death. As for her sister, Lunamaria will have her 'screen time' after this. On Cherubim's stealth ability, I played Wing Commander when the ol' 3 ½ inch diskette is still considered as cutting technology and CDROM cost 150 bucks. I know there's a Kilrathi ship that can turn invisible (I forgot the name). Pretty cool, although its armaments were pitiful. When I decided to give Cherubim its stealth capability, I was thinking of Stealth Tank in Command & Conquer. But, hey all technology seems the same, eh? Hmmm… Fllay and Kira? I'm building to the climax where they will fight to kill each other. As for Rusian technology, well, hey, what can I say? I like Su-35 and Mig-29. Hence Sukhoi-Gurevich.

**StryderHiryu **-- Thanks! I did read a bit on his story, but I stopped so that I wouldn't unintentionally plagiarize his story. As for mobile suits and OC, yeah, a bit lean on these departments as I'm not sure I will write until which part in GSD. As for Shinn, I agree with you that he's some sort of a fallen angel and if I'm going to write about him, I'll give a different name. Maybe "The wings of the fallen"

**v4n3s5aCH4N** -- Hmm… in that case, my pen name can be changed into N05hm0n0. Not as cool. A bit simplistic for my pen name. Ah well, hope this is fast enough. I just hope the economic term I'm learning right now won't spill into this story.

**blitz1/2** -- Yes. Not very important, as this is a Fllay fanfiction after all, but important nevertheless. As you can see, two characters are already introduced, Terrence and Igor. More will come. If you're asking whether I'm going to put more mobile suit, well, I already have two mobile suits stats ready, based on Buster and Duel, but as for now I'm not putting them in.

**Author's note (3 October 2005)**

1. If you're wondering, I'm still on my vacation, but I'm still writing. Since I'm nearby an internet connection, I'm posting this one. The critical time for me when I'll be tied up trying to finish my assignment starts next week, so now, I'm still lazing around.

2. Now, if anyone of you going to review, can I ask for some favor? Will it be better for me to put the stats of mobile suits, characters and ships at the front of the fic, in the middle or at the end? Fallen will at least have two modules mentioned, along with description about each weapon.


	8. Unspoken thoughts

Archangel's crew waited to see what develop next. Minerva has managed to escape, while the Alliance carrier has retreated. That left only ORB ships to pickup survivors from sunken ships, including from Takemikazuchi. But even those ships were in bad condition themselves. To them, the battle has ended, but to the Archangel, they were fighting a very delicate situation. One that even Kira couldn't solve easily.

Strike Rouge has been taken as a hostage by the so-called 'Black Freedom'. That has helped to end ORB's aggression against Minerva, not that they could do anything with most of their weapons and aircraft wiped out. But even though the ZAFT's ship has gone for more than half an hour, Strike Rouge and its captor were still hovering with 'Black Freedom' shooting at any mobile suit that tried to get close.

Kira had tried to free Cagalli, using its hips' bazookas to attack the two mobile suits. As the weapons were projectile based, Strike Rouge's Trans Phase armor would protect it a bit from the explosion. But they were shot down before they could even get near. As if warning everyone to back off, a switched-off laser sword was put near Strike Rouge's cockpit. If the thing was turned on, it would have killed Cagalli in less than a second.

"What are we going to do, Captain Murrue?" Mirrilia asked.

"We wait," she answered as she looked at screen showing Freedom circling the two mobile suits cautiously from a distance.

Mirrilia gasped as she looked at her radar. "A ship has appeared from behind us. Distance, 20!"

"What!" Murrue uttered.

"According to its heat signature, it's… unknown"

"What shall we do?" Neumann asked.

"Mirrilia, can you give visuals?"

She tapped on the screen and a large image was projected on the main screen. The ship was indeed similar to a Nelson-class battleship, except it was larger and has linear catapults similar to Archangel's on its sides. Upon further inspection, all of its weapons were not deployed, putting Captain Murrue at ease a bit. She wouldn't want any new fight to break out, especially with so many ORB survivors from the previous battle still not rescued.

"Captain," Mirrilia said, "there's a transmission in Alliance's frequency. Should I patch it through?"

She nodded, telling Mirrilia to open communication channel. Barzhakov's face appeared on the face. "THIS IS CHERUBIM'S CAPTAIN SPEAKING. GOOD DAY, LITTLE PONY. HOW ARE YOU DOING"

Murrue's eyes widened for a few seconds before she caught hold of herself. "I never thought I will be seeing one of my instructors at the academy here. So what are you doing here, helping ZAFT no less? And don't call me by that name"

Meanwhile, Cherubim has landed on the sea and moved toward Fallen and Strike Rouge.

"OH MY, YOU'RE QUESTIONING ME? WHAT ARE YOU DOING AS A CAPTAIN OF A HUNTED ORB SHIP? AND WHILE WE'RE MUDSLINGING, LET'S SEE… DESERTION AT JOSH-A, STEALING AN ALLIANCE SHIP… FIGHTING AGAINST ALLIANCE AT JACHIN DUE… DESTROYING DOMINION… HOW ABOUT I CALL YOU LITTLE PHONY INSTEAD?"

She gritted her teeth, remembering how much he liked to rile her up during the academy days. "Your mobile suit was attacking the Alliance too"

Fallen has landed on top of Cherubim, still holding Strike Rouge.

"HAH! FALLEN BELONGS TO ZAFT. YOU CAN CHECK THEIR DATABASE IF YOU DON'T BELIEVE ME"

Mirrilia entered Fallen's particulars into Archangel's database so that they know how to detect and refer to it in the future.

"Now then, what do you want to do?" Murrue asked.

Barzhakov smiled and signed off. But as if answering her question, one of Cherubim's launch bays opened and a Windam equipped with an unseen before pack and a Deep Forbidden jumped into the water. Ten minutes later the Windam appeared, holding a Murasame without its head and carried it into the ship before going back into the water. It was followed by the Deep Forbidden which was carrying another Murasame, this time missing its arms.

"My god! They're capturing the damaged mobile suits!" Murrue exclaimed.

Romero Pal asked from his console, "What should we do?"

There was a beep and then Kira was online. "Captain Murrue, can you fire a Gottfried cannon at that ship?"

"But the Strike Rouge is on the ship"

"That's why we want to fire at it. Aim above the place where Strike Rouge's head is supposed to be"

"But what's the purposed of doing that?"

"I want to get Fallen away from Strike Rouge. I know that you can it"

"What will you do?"

"I will distract the mobile suit. When you fire, it will jump away to avoid the cannon"

"And you swoop to save Cagalli. Sounds like a good plan"

* * *

"SIR!" The female officer shouted. 

"Calm down, Sammy. I'm not smoking my pipe," Barzhakov said as he stopped from taking something from his jacket.

"Who's talking about that? Archangel is targeting one of its Gottfried cannons towards us"

"Just one?"

"One"

"Is it targeting our bridge?"

"No"

"Then let it be"

"What!"

"What a puny cannon like that can do to us? After all, Lady Cagalli is with us" He turned toward Jackson. "How's with the salvation work?"

"We have recovered five units, all with their pilots still alive. Our ship has the capacity to accommodate three more. We also captured a life boat containing ten ORB soldiers and they have been taken into custody"

"Good"

"SIR!"

Barzakhov looked at the screen. Freedom was flying around, aiming its rifle at Fallen when suddenly Archangel fired. He smiled knowingly as he knew what Archangel and Freedom was trying to do. After all, he taught feint attack strategies during his academy days. He knew such tactic would be used when Sammy told him that Archangel's cannon was aimed at Cherubim. _'What will that Allster kid do?'_ he wondered

Fallen simply raised its left hand and let the twin green beam hit its energy shield harmlessly. At the same time it turned toward Freedom and aimed its gattling, as if knowing what Freedom's pilot was thinking. Freedom which was about to charge its boosters stopped.

As he watched the whole thing on screen, Barzhakov let out a small laugh. What Archangel and its mobile suit planned was good, but his pilot has anticipated it.

"We have recovered seven units and the final one is on its way"

"Excellent"

Sir, the Deep Forbidden want some pontoons to inflate one of the ships"

"Very well, give it what it wants"

Five minutes later, the Deep Forbidden finally emerged from the water and entered Cherubim. Then, a ship suddenly appeared on the sea surface, supported by the pontoon Deep Forbidden has attached. Wary of traps, one of the ORB's ships went near it. The ship's crew's bravery was rewarded when they heard some sounds coming from inside it. Throwing caution to the wind, they began to mount a rescue mission, regardless of Cherubim.

* * *

Kira watched as Fallen took off slowly, bring Strike Rouge with it. At first, he nearly panicked, but when the two of them move toward him, he let out a long breath. At least Fallen wasn't going into its ship. However, he kept his hands on the controls, mindful of any trap or trick. 

But the black and blue mobile suit keep moving slowly toward him, still holding to Cagalli' mobile suit. A thought occurred to him. Did Cagalli know what were happening outside her cockpit? After all, most of sensors were destroyed.

Fallen finally stopped a few meters in front of Kira. It slowly handed Strike Rouge to Freedom.

"_Here you are"_

"Thank you for not harming her" Freedom's hands tightened their grips on Strike Rouge

"_My pleasure. After all, she's ORB only hope, right?" _Fallen's hands release their hold.

Kira smiled. "Yeah. That's why we have to take her back to Orb"

Fallen then turned toward Cherubim and flew to it. Meanwhile, Kira type a few buttons and Cagalli's vital signs appeared on his computer. He sighed. It was a long day. Then he realized that something was very wrong. He didn't communicate with Fallen's pilot, but he answered as if he was spoken to. To make it worse he smiled to the pilot despite not seeing her. How could this be?

He looked at Fallen and felt a very deep connection with the pilot, as if they were supposed to know each other. It's like they were supposed to be lovers, despite being on opposite sides. Kira felt his hands were twitching to make Freedom go and chase Fallen, as if they're not supposed to leave each other. He shook off the feeling and smacked his helmet to refocus himself. He needed to bring Cagalli into Archangel.

* * *

"Fllay!" Terrence's face appeared screen on a smaller screen just above the main screen. 

She didn't say anything, dazed.

"Fllay Allster!"

"What happened just now?" she mumbled to herself.

"Fallen pilot, Miss Fllay Allster" His voice becamse sing-song.

"How could I talk to him just like that? That's… impossible. I was sure the communicator wasn't on at that time… so…"

"My daaarliiiiiiing…"

Her eyes snapped to the screen. "I'm not your darling!"

Despite the small screen, the smile on his face was unmistakable. "Good to have you back on the land of the _livings_"

She shook her head. "You really know how to rile me, don't you?"

"Hey, it's in my _genes_" The smile became a grin. "Now if you're done, will you please return to the ship now? I know that Fallen have more powerful boosters than Freedom, but that mobile suit has returned to Archangel earlier. We need to take off two minutes ago, and your being on cloud nine is delaying us"

"Sigh. Roger"

* * *

Barzhakov opened the room and felt a wave of hostility coming from it, similar to hot air moving to cold area. He looked at glaring eyes transfixed on him but entered anyway. As he took a few steps, he looked at the sentries assigned to guard the ORB officers and pilots they have captured. There were four of them, each one standing at the corner of the room, pointing their automatic rifles toward the prisoners. The 40 year old captain walked to in front of the room and turned toward on of the sentries. "Get me a chair, will you" 

A plastic chair was set facing the crowd and he sat on it. "Sergeant Minartes, go somewhere else with the others. Go get some coffee," he commanded while waving his hand dismissively.

All of the sentries left the room without any questioning.

He sat on the chair and looked at every person in the room. Finally Barzhakov said, "If you're wondering, there's no one outside the room. So, if you jumped on me just now, there will be no one to stop you"

Some of the faces change into confused looks. There were some who frowned.

"ORB military is well known for its honor. I'm confident that you'll behave appropriately while we have a little bit of, how do I say this, heart to heart talk?"

One pilot stood and pointed to Brzhakov's black Alliance uniform. "You can start by explaining what's the meaning of all this"

"Very well, please be seated first"

There's no way you're ordering me around!" He was supported by some voices.

Barzhakov looked at him in the eyes. "Sit"

The pilot became unnerved and sat

Barzhakov leaned on his sit. "It is important that we do this calmly, if you really want my answers. But if you want to heap the blames on my side without listening first, tell me so that I don't have to waste my time talking" He watched everyone for any reaction. "No objection? Good. Now let's have a show of hands of how many of you were attacking Minerva willingly"

None raised their hands.

"So I assume all of you were forced by the Alliance, particularly the Atlantic Federation"

The pilot who had objected earlier wanted to stand and say something, but a look from the Cherubim's captain thwarted him.

"You can't back off and retreat; and neither do you want to fight ZAFT, Is that it?"

One who looked like the leader of the ORB group nodded. "That's true"

"So, someone has to stop you" Barzhakov said calmly. "That way, you will be maintaining ORB's ideals while protecting it at the same time"

The leader looked at him critically. "So I assume that someone will have to be this ship" There was not mistaking the sarcasm in his voice.

"Thank you. But we don't want any rewards"

"Just some prisoners and planes, eh?"

Barzhakov looked at him. "What's your name again?"

"Enishi Miyamoto"

"All right, Mr. Miyamoto. I'll be fair to you and your men. If any of you here in this room that feel like going back to Orb right now and then being subjected to pressure by Alliance to go back on your ideals, you're free to go now. Go out of this room, turn left and then asked anyone you meet how to go to the hanger. We'll provide you with a transport plane for you to go. Or if you want, you can stay and join us"

"How about our Murasames. Will you return them to us if we leave?" another pilot asked.

"Do you think we can repair your mobile suits that fast? In case you forgot, you were swimming with the fishes when we recovered your units. So, in return for saving you, the planes will be confiscated"

"What if we decide to stay? Wouldn't we be working with the Alliance as well?"

Barzhakov shook his head. "This ship and its crew have been classified as rogue by Alliance. If you want to stay, you'll be part of its crew" He put a hand behind his head. "We're undermanned, after all, especially in the mess. Someone has to replace Helga as the cook before she kills everyone onboard" He stood and went to a nearby communication panel. Jackson's appeared.

"Yes sir?"

"Can you show the officers from ORB around? And show them their rooms"

"OK, will be there in ten minutes"

The captain switched off the panel and turned around. "If you want, you're free to go anywhere around this, except the restricted areas. We'll meet in this room at 1900 hours, if you decide to stay.

* * *

When Barzhakov entered the room, he didn't expect to see all of them to be in the room. 

Enishi greeted him. "We will stay, for now"

"That's good" Barzakhov smiled.

Enishi extended his hands and Barzhakov shook it. "So, Captain Barzhakov, where will we be going?"

"Eurasia. We have an independence war to fight"

* * *

Inside ZAFT's spaceship Eternal, Andrew Wartfeld floated to his commander carrying two water bottles. He offered one to her. "Here. I lessened the Cappuccino by 13. I think you will like it better than yesterday" 

Lacus accepted the bottle, smiling gratefully and took a sip. Her eyes lighted up. "Mmmmm… This is good. You seem to have it at the right amount"

He grinned. "I think I know your personal preference now"

"Thank you very much" Lacus gazed outside Eternal and said, "I wonder what's going on PLANT and Earth Alliance"

"It's a good thing you set up the TERMINAL to help keep tab on both sides. Otherwise, we may be in a deeper trouble than this"

"I wish my prediction at that time was wrong and we don't have any war," She closed her eyes and let out a long sigh. "Da Costa, do we have any new information?"

Da Costa looked at the table computer he was carrying. "ZAFT is developing at least 2 more mobile suits, probably nuclear powered. As for our operatives in Earth Alliance, they couldn't get access to classified information except for this: Earth Alliance has developed an ultra high purity diamond lens and has almost perfected an alloy able to withstand very high temperature" He looked at her before continuing, "It's also working on a compact long range radar system"

Lacus opened her eyes. "Both sides are developing more advanced weapons. This is a very bad sign. Is there anything else, maybe on Junk Guild?"

"Ah, yes. It seems that someone that goes by the name Sharon Craussier bought a lot of spare parts from Junk Guild. He also bought broken weapons from Serpent Tail mercenary group. The strange thing is that he pays for all his purchase by cash or account transfer"

She thought about what Da Costa said. "It seems we have to hasten our own mobile suits development. Things may get worse soon"

* * *

11

* * *

**nick2951 -- ** Thanks for your input. I'll put Fallen's stats after I've decided the three SIREN modules for it. Since I'm committed to post up to Berlin, you will see the first module in that one. Judging by the way I'm going, there should be no problem continuing up to ORB. If that's the case, you'll get your wish. 

**Zidane Lightning Saix -- ** More scenes regarding Athrun and Cagalli getting their ass kicked? Sorry to disappoint you, but it would seem to excessive, wouldn't it? I do base my story on GSD, so some parts remain the same. Plus, although I like watching Cagalli and Athrun mopping in the series, I feel a bit reluctant to write about it here as it will seem a bit, how do we say this, overdone? As for Heine getting owned each time he goes into battle, well it just a lazy way for me to give him Gaia. I also liked the part where Fllay asked about Gouf. :-D About you wishing Kira and Fllay having some feeling toward each other, it should be a bit evident from above where this story will lead to. Reread my previous reply to you and then compare with what you read above. In GSD, Minerva getting moped up in the attack against ORB… so…maybe…

**Nanthakon V2.3 – DDR -- ** Thanks. Well, we have stories on Fllay Allster by excellent authors. In fact, their works that compelled me to write a story on her despite struggling with another story. So, I have to be humble in that respect. However… I couldn't stop grinning as I read your second comment. You see, English is my second language. I learned it to read Archie comic books (and those War Library comics printed in UK), watch GI Joe and of course, to pass my exams. Although my composition is passable (according to national standard), I only practiced conversing in English within the last four years. I've a beta reader for my other fan fiction, and with her help, I believe I have improved (how much remain to be debated). To me, your comment is a compliment and a reminder that I still have a long way to go.

**Author's note. (10 October 2005)**

1) Not much changes in the story, except that now I'll put the KxF in the story's summary.

2) If someone wonders about the heck is Sharon Craussier, I'll give you a hint. T. C.

3) I wonder whether Terminal is really a faction in Gundam Seed Destiny. I mean, I saw the part where Murrue saying that she have some information from terminal (Japanese language doesn't have a perfect substitute for 'the') that Eternal has launched. Then I saw in Wikipedia that Terminal was a group set up by the Three Ship Faction. Can anyone confirm with me whether TERMINAL really exist, or Murrue was saying about the computer terminal? I'll update this and upcoming chapters if needed.

4) I decided to name the anti smoking personnel Sammy as a tribute to the one in Macross.

5) I'll update in December. I've my economic exam to study about and a report to turn in.


	9. Lonely heart

Fllay sat on the secluded corner of the mobile suits hanger, leaning on a wall. Hidden from view, she listened as people buzzed around, doing repair and maintenance activities on the mobile suits. She stared forlornly at her own mobile suit for a long time, before hugging her knees and buried her face on them, crying softly.

Despite her loosing a lot of her memory, the part where the ship carrying her father being destroyed was still fresh in her mind, as if she had just witnessed it the day before. She could see as the four stolen suits attacking the Earth Alliance fleet that came to meet Archangel, destroying the ship one by one. She had tried to stop them, by taking Lacus as a hostage but it was too late.

With the death of her father, she finally felt alone in her life. To outsiders, she was a snobbish bitch who has a very rich daddy, but in reality, her daddy was the only one who knew the real her, the 8 year old girl who couldn't get over her mother's death. The girl who sat near her mother as she withered away from an unknown virus, despite warnings. The girl who prayed that the 'brilliant doctors at the PLANT' would find the cure for her mother.

But in the end, her mother died. And with it some part of her died. She cried and cried for days, and had entered depression. But an exactly a month later, she changed. Fllay wanted to be strong, and not depend on everyone else except her father.

And she couldn't forget and forgive about PLANT delaying the introduction of the vaccine because they used it as a political leverage to get more independent from the sponsor nations.

The change in her personality was not noticed by anyone, saved for her father. After all, many people were prejudiced against her. And not because of her genes that made her powerful, but because of wealth. Allster family was very influential.

She had become cold, not talking to anyone of them unless necessary; pretending to be happy whenever she was with people close enough for her to call friends. Her father tried to help her by arranging a fixed marriage, something very extraordinary given that very rarely arranged marriage took place. Fllay had protested, but her father explained his reasons and hoped that she would agree. For her father, she would do anything. So, Fllay was engaged. Her fiancé, whom she neither remembered his name nor his face, didn't notice her pretentious behavior while they're together in Helipolis. But then, she has gotten so good at it since she has been doing that for a long time.

But now, although the situation has changed, being around people who cared about her, she still felt lonely. The feeling was there ever since she was brought back to live. At first, she thought that it was due to the drugs the damned scientists at the laboratory used on her, but more than a year has passed and the feeling of emptiness didn't abate at all. Maybe she would it feel until she died. After all, she was cursed with abilities that served as double edge swords. And now with them, she has become a perfect grim reaper.

Everyday Fllay would think about whether killing her enemies was correct or not. Before, she would have just disabled their mobile suits or mobile armors. But it all changed one day. While engaging in a minor skirmish against an Alliance squadron of Windam that attacked her battleship, she has disabled them, forcing them to remain on the ground. When Cherubim launched a shuttle to assess one of the pilots she has injured, another one took the opportunity to escape, while ramming into the shuttle, destroying it. Everyone on board was killed, including her close friend by the name of Sera. But the Windam didn't get far as green rays of death from Fallen's gattling gun destroy it.

Although she was not blamed for what happened, Fllay learned a very hard lesson. In war, everything was murky grey and what normally considered as a moral thing to do may not be so moral after all. The example that she experienced was that although letting your enemies live may seem the right thing to do, the move may cause problem later on. But killing them was not correct either. So what should she do? Would it be wrong to kill to protect people you care? But if you protect them at the expense of others' life, wouldn't it be deemed as selfish?

But then again, human are selfish, doing things that fit in their agendas and shunning things that wouldn't give them anything. She should know; as she was one of the worst. Fllay looked at her wrists. There were few thin lines on them that reminded of her attempt to end the feeling of emptiness permanently. However, she would always stop in the end. She hated herself, but she couldn't kill herself. She was too selfish.

Fllay really hated the pain of being herself.

One of the newly enlisted ORB officers saw her and wanted to approach her, but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't, Vince" Terrence said.

Vince turned toward him. "Why?"

"Remember that you asked me about the blood thirsty and savage pilot who killed so many of your men?"

"Yeah, so?" Despite joining Cherubim, Vince couldn't quite forgive Fallen for what it did.

"That would be her"

Vince looked at Fllay and then at Terrence. "Is that the deadly ace of Cherubim? A crying girl?" He found it so hard to believe. He looked at her again. "I don't believe it"

Terrence shrugged. "You can ask anyone else in this hangar about Fallen's pilot and they will point to her"

"That's impossible! I saw Fallen shoot without hesitation. It couldn't be her"

"Her killing on war field doesn't mean that she likes it. It's has to be done"

"But Freedom…"

"If there was only Freedom that day, most of your mobile suits would just be disabled, and most of your fleet would still be operational. The Alliance would have forced Orb to lend its fleet again after it has gone through repairs. The result would have been the same or maybe worse. If playing the pacifier role is that easy, your fleet would have negotiated for a peace treaty instead of trying to sink Minerva"

"But…"

A beep made Terrence look at the computer screen nearby and he typed some commands. "Look, didn't we do exactly that the first time you attack that ship? We only destroyed your missiles and fried some stray Astrays's wings that time. And we find you again trying to the same thing at Crete. That's when we decided that we have to take a more aggressive step"

Vince frowned.

"I know it's an evil trade off, killing few to save many, but we… no, she believe that it was necessary. That's why she was the one who did it. I know it hurt her like hell having to kill some of your Murasames that were shielding Representative Attha. After all, they were protecting her, not attacking Minerva, right? But if it can make Representative Attha realize that she shouldn't risk her live precariously, Fllay would do it. She's our guardian of chaos, after all"

"But you're making it sounds as if their lives were cheap!" Vince looked at Fllay. "She doesn't know anything about the value of life"

Terrence also looked at her and shook his head slowly. The irony of a soldier complaining about the loss of lives on a battlefield didn't escape him. "Weren't you taught at the military academy that the loss of life cannot be prevented in battles? Didn't you think about that when you attacked Minerva? As for your saying that she didn't know anything, that's where you're wrong. That young woman has lost hers during the Second Jachin Due battle" A loud crashing sound shook the whole hangar. One of the technicians has caused Fallen's gattling gun to drop on the floor. "Hey, idiot! Be careful with the MPG-131. You don't want someone be flattened by that, do you?"

Vince took it as a sign that the person beside him didn't want to continue the conversation. "Please excuse me. I have something to do"

* * *

Athrun sat on the sofa, looking down. 

"Why the long face, Athrun?"

"Heine" Athrun raised his head to see his colleague wearing a cast on his left leg and looked away.

Heine saw where Athrun was looking and grinned. "Ah, don't worry about this. I didn't get this from the crash. I slipped inside shower"

"Really…" Athrun asked disbelievingly.

"Really," Heine said while laughing embarrassedly. "It'll be okay in two days. By the way, talking about Freedom, although it destroyed my mobile suit, the cockpit was still intact" He looked at Athrun. "I've to admit, he's very good"

"Yeah…" Athrun said slowly.

"It must have hurt you having to fight him"

"Aa," Athrun concurred. "But I… I…"

"You're confused?" It was more of a statement than a question.

"Yes. I remembered what you said that day and I took it to heart. I remember that we have to fight in order to protect Minerva. I understood that very well…" He made a frustrated sound. "But Freedom and Archangel…"

Heine held his hand up to stop him. "Don't finish it, because that will be dangerous. Wall has ears, you know. But I know very well what you're going to say"

"Heine… I…"

"Look, I'm supposed to give you a pep talk about us being in military and shouldn't do anything that will go against our rules," Heine said seriously. He stared at Athrun for a few seconds before smiling again. "But I'll be the first to admit to you that I understand their motive. I'll tell you, what they did wasn't wrong"

"But…"

"Let me finish. What Alliance, ORB and ZAFT did is not wrong either. For example, we cannot force people from Blue Cosmos to like us Coordinators, right? It's their own choice to do that, and I'm sure they have plenty of reasons. They're right. But we also have the right to defend ourselves, right? So the problem in our world is that there will always be clashing opinions on who are right and who are wrong. So, when we have such thing happening, we couldn't help it. We have to fight for what we believe is the right thing to do and so will they"

Athrun nodded.

"So, the only way we can go on in such a crazy world is to do what WE feel is the right thing to do. For me, it's protecting Minerva" Heine sighed. "In a short period of time, I come to like this ship and its crew" He looked at his colleague. "But don't worry about finding about what is right for you. I'm sure you'll find out on your own"

"But… Suppose the truth that I'm fighting for makes me fight you"

Heine shrugged. "Then we fight it out in the battle. But when it happens, although I don't think so, let's fight without any hard feeling. After all, we're professional soldiers, right?"

Athrun nodded. "Thank you for what you've said just now. You don't know how much it means to me"

"Ah. Don't mention it. Being assistant school councilor before entering military helps. Now, why don't we visit Lunamaria and the others? They will surely be happy to see that you're all right"

Athrun nodded.

"Ah, Athrun. I know what I said just now don't really answer your question, so just remember this. If anything happen to Minerva because of me hesitating, I wouldn't forgive myself" Heine smiled. "How about you?" He waved it off before Athrun could answer. "Don't tell me the answer. Why don't we visit Lunamaria?"

They walked to the infirmary. When they arrived, they saw Lunamaria being treated for her injuries. Upon seeing Athrun, happiness light up in her eyes. "Athrun!"

"Sorry for not visiting you earlier"

"It's okay" Lunamaria winced as the doctor pressed some gauze on of her wound. "I'm happy that you're all right. That's what important for me," she said, smiling sweetly.

"Luna…"

Nervous because what she said to him, she quickly added. "I'm relieved that the others are all right too"

Heine interrupted. "You sounded insincere with your last comment, Lunamaria. You only cared for your 'Commander Athrun'"

"HEINE!" Lunamaria shouted, embarrassed. Then her changed faced to a pained expression, as sign that she has moved too much despite her injuries.

"Please remain still, Ms. Hawke" the doctor reprimanded her.

"Sorry"

Heine snickered.

Athrun turned toward him. "She cares for all of us, Heine. You shouldn't make light of her concern"

In response, Heine raised his hands in a placating manner. "Since you defend her, I couldn't say anything". He winked at Lunamaria who looked down in embarrassment.

* * *

Vince strolled along the mobile hanger. Although the hanger was almost similar to one on Archangel, the situation there was entirely different. Unlike the one on Archangel that seemed alive with activities all the time, the hanger on Cherubim was almost empty, as most of technicians went to sleep. It was night time. The new technician wondered how such a ship could have such a lax security. It would have been easy for a saboteur to destroy the hanger with the mobile suits in it. Barzhakov wasn't kidding when he said that he trusted them. 

He walked toward Fallen, craning his neck to look at the towering contraption. True, he was still angry with Fallen and its pilot, but hearing the story from Terence left him with a bit of awe and respect.

Then Vince heard beeping sounds coming from a nearby training module. Curious, he walked toward it to see the red haired girl was busy running through some simulation. Her name was Fllay, he remembered.

He was a few steps from the simulator when she hit the sides of her chair in exasperation.

Fllay noticed that he was there but made no attempt to greet him.

"What did you miss?" Vince asked in attempt to make a small talk. When she didn't answer him, he peered at the simulator screen. It showed a hundred percent score. "I don't understand. You got a perfect score"

Fllay ignored him and went through the whole simulation again. Meanwhile Vince was shocked to see that the models in the simulator were moving at very high speed. If they were real, they would have matched Freedom in speed. He didn't notice it at first, but after a while, he realized that she tried to aim the shots at the heads and limbs, like Kira Yamato normally does. Vince was a Coordinator that pledge his alliance to Orb, but it would have been hard for him to shoot something like Freedom at its head accurately. Sure, he could manage a few lucky head shots, but only if those were outdated Daggers or GINNS. He looked at her hands moving the control stick while typing commands and thought about biological CPUs the Atlantic Federation was using.

He continued watching as she run through the simulation again. This time the simulation program was different. There were more enemies on the screen and it was as if she was running through a race to destroy everything in the quickest time. Vince waited patiently until the final remaining enemy was destroyed before speaking. "You sure are enjoying killing them"

Most people would have been angry with the remark, but Fllay didn't. "What makes you say that?"

"People are sleeping, and here you are practicing to be an efficient mobile suits destroyer," Vince said with a bit of malice in his voice.

"You are Vincent Shatau, aren't you? Born in year 48 CE in Januarius One to Shanne and Kartini Shatau. The Shatau family of five people moved to Orb in year 64 CE and stayed there ever since" She eyed him. "A Coordinator" The look was so sharp that he couldn't maintain eye contact with her.

He wasn't surprised that she knew his history; all of the ORB's personnel onboard Cherubim provided theirs for registration purposes. But he wondered why did she studied about them. "Do you have a problem with that?"

She shook her head. "Two years ago, yes, but not now. But I want to ask you a simple question. How do you feel being a coordinator? I understand and admit we as naturals are biased toward all of you. However, tell me how do you feel about being able to jump higher than people, not having to work very much to excel in school, not falling sick easily and all the other things that the Naturals don't have?"

"Nothing," he hesitated, "at least I believe that's what I feel"

"Don't you feel special, compared to normal people?"

"No"

"I see" She looked upward, thinking deeply. "We, the so-called Naturals feel inferior. Even if we tried, we can never compare to Coordinators"

"But that doesn't matter"

She laughed. "Really? Even from the start of the time, evolution favors those that are stronger, smarter and more flexible. You think that it doesn't matter, but for some of the Naturals do" She paused for a second. "I did"

Vince asked, "So what changed your mind?"

Fllay was about to answer the question when she realized what she was about to say and stopped. She smiled sadly. "That doesn't matter anymore. No matter what I do, I can never correct what has happened. All I can do now is to continue fighting. That's why I have to keep training"

"To be a better killer?"

She looked at him for a long time before answering. "Yes. You're right. It seems that I'm trying to be a better killer. After all, killing people, for any reason, good or bad, is still killing people right?"

"Then what happen after war, when killing is no longer necessary?"

"I don't know" Her grips on the simulator's joysticks tightened. "I really don't know" Her voice became softer. "Each day I asked that question myself" Her voice was a whisper. "Do I have a future?"

* * *

1

* * *

**Nanthakon V2.3 - DDR --> **I did look over the possibility of Sai x Fllay and I concluded that while it's not impossible, its beyond my creative ability. I'm not afraid that the other people will kill me; rather I'm afraid that doing that will kill the story (no, I'm not concerned about readership. I'm refering to the fact that the story will be quite flawed if not done properly). In my opinion, the ease of doing a matchup for Fllay and a male character in this story can be illustrated as following : Kira-->Neumann--> Shinn Rey--> Yzak--> Sai--> Romario Pal--> Mu La Flagga--> Dearka --> Gilbert--> Raw La Creuset (another clone, perhaps)--> Jona. Notice that I don't put any OCs as they can be fit anywhere on the scale, but I'm not interested in doing OC even if it includes me. Heck, I even want to make Abby ( the one that replaced Meyrin onboard Minerva) a more prominent character, but I can't do that because of the restriction I told you about. But, never fear. There's a very good one-shot fiction by the name of Destiny : Ever Stay Spring which centers around Sai as the main protagonist. Maybe you can have a look at that one. :-D 

**Ultimate Coordinator Berserker **--> No disputing the fact that Kira is THE Ultimate Coordinator. In fact, that was what made me write these to tilt the battle situation to favor Fllay slightly :  
1) She used a newer nuclear generated mobile suit (Impulse is battery operated),  
2) She had to be given the 'ACCURSED' (anologous to Biological CPU),  
3) Her mobile suit was equipped with a system similar to Zero system in Gundam Wing,  
4) She took Cagalli as a hostage, and  
5) She manipulated Kira's tendency not to kill mobile suit pilots (just like Shinn did in GSD, using an even weaker mobile suit).  
So, I believe I have basically even out the gap between the two. Fllay is still weaker than Kira (She's weaker than Shinn, in fact), but she did have two other advantages that she used to keep up with Coordinator pilots. :-)

**nick2951** --> Thanks. After going throught the paper, I feel that I need lots of luck. Ah well, at least now I can burst my head doing studying for Accounting. As for Fllay and Kira, I wanted to have them discover each other at Crete, but then it wouldn't be dramatic, I suppose.

**Zidane Lightning Saix --> **Fallen is state of the art, being developed after Freedom. It's like comparing Pentium 4 and Pentium 3. But, Freedom have more weaponry than Fallen. As for Fllay, she's hanging in there, I suppose. Having Kira not killing anyone sure makes my job easier. It's a wonder that he didn't get himself killed by Shinn.

**Jarr Jar** --> Honestly speaking, to me the writers of GSD are making all of the Naturals as retards. Proofs :-  
1) Only Coordinators onboard Archangel get to say something inspiring, the other crew members will wait and listen with awe.  
2) If Djibril really wanted to defeat PLANT, he could have just sent Girty Lue with five Windams, each armed with two nuclear weapons with Chaos, Abyss and Gaia as escorts. Then launch the EA fleet as decoys to draw all of ZAFT fleet awat and wham, reduce Apprilius to intergalactic dust. With that gone, the other PLANTS will surely fall. That's how they attacked Armory One, right? But no, he wouldn't take the easy way. He had to waste money and resources building X-1 Destroy and Requiem.  
3) Earth population, consists mainly of Naturals were easily manipulated.  
4) With the exception of Arthur onboard Minerva, all the retarded comments in the series were made by Naturals.  
5) A swarm of Windam against one Impulse? Why not just nuke Minerva? Djibril and LOGOS are the archvillains, after all.  
6) Jona Roma Saran is a Natural.  
So, do cut Cagalli some slack. It's the writers' bias (they seem to forget that they're Naturals, and so maybe the law of Naturals being retards also applies to them :-D)

**holyknightragnarok ()** --> The answer is no, I'm not giving her a new mobile suit. Actually, I've already decided to give her a new one and then Fallen will be a hand me down to another pilot. But then I remembered that Fallen is supposed to be a work in progress before Terrence defected. So Fallen will remain in Fllay's hand throughout the story. It will undergo some upgrading, and be fitted with some weapon modules (just like Strike and Impulse, only they're not changeable during operations). Once I've decided on the modules, I'll post it after Cherubim's stats. The way I'm looking at it, when the story ends (if I can get myself to be that diligent) Fallen's capability is just slightly below Freedom and Justice. But it will be armed with a different set of weapons.

**Shells ()** --> Whatever the outcomes, it wouldn't be a pretty sight, I guess. :-p

**ladie-babyblu -->** Thank you. I hope it to keep that way.

**Author's note** (23 November 2005)  
1) I reckon that many people would like to skip to the part where Fllay and Kira meet, but I would like my sweet time to explain Fllay's character even more. As you can see from the chapter above, Fllay is not perfect (and that's why she's my kind of girl). I hope that the chapter will explain why she had aversion to Coordinators in general. Sure, some people call her as a bitch, but I think its unfair for them to call her such without trying to understand why she acted like that. Also, since I'm following Gundam Seed Destiny's story line, there are few more important events before they could meet: Berlin, Angel Down, Heaven's Base and ORB.

2) Most of you will probably notice that Cherubim and its crew uses somewhat unscrupulous tactics. Yes, they are 'grey' compared to Archangel's white (glorious and righteous), LOGOS's black (more rotten than Dick Dastardly and Muttley) and ZAFT's zebra (good, bad, good, bad, good, bad...). That's my bias as I also like characters who fall in the grey category such as Wolverine and Ghost Rider. Fllay, in my opinion also falls into grey category (although leaning towards darker side).

3) I know I said that I will update in December, but with holiday and other events coming, I wouldn't be surprised if I can only update one or two more chapters before next year. That and the fact that I'm still thinking whether I should add more mobile suits to the fray. It will be fun to have Gundams Royal Rumbles. "Wrestling fans are in for a treat, with Freedom fighting against nine other contenders for the title of the strongest. Vince Mc Mahon is really giving what the fans wants by holding this matchup. Wham! Damn! I couldn't watch the carnage. Oh, Freedom is giving Legend the People's Elbow whereas Fallen is doing a Tombstone Screwdriver on Destiny. What destruction! How about Justice? Justice is out cold with Gaia giving it a Hurricana"


	10. Prelude to Berlin

Shinn was devastated when he heard the information between Captain Talia and the doctor treating Stellar, the Alliance's Extended pilot that he and Athrun captured. Although she didn't suffer from heavy injuries, her condition deteriorated slowly. It seemed that in order to survive, she needed some kind of drugs to be administered to her periodically. Unfortunately, despite their technological advances, Coordinators have not reached the point where they can identify and synthesis the drugs needed for Stellar's treatment. The doctor said that the keeping her alive via life support would make it harder for postmortem to be carried out. In response, Talia said that ZAFT already have a lot of dead specimens for their research and what the High Council wanted was a living Extended. So, it would be best for them to continue to try prolonging Stellar's life, despite how hopeless it will be. Hearing their conversation, Shinn feel helpless and betrayed. Needing to clear his head, he went to the observation deck.

When he arrived at the deck, he saw someone was already there. It was Athrun. Not wanting to watch his superior whose skills were questionable because he lost to a pilot who was piloting an obsolete mobile suit, he turned back to the door and was about to life when Athrun called him. "Shinn…"

"What is it?"

"Oh… it's nothing" His calling Shinn was just a response when he saw the young ace.

Shinn turned toward him and felt his bottled up anger began to spill. "So instead of moping over your loss in your room, you came here? How carefree. Despite you visiting her in the infirmary, she still feel worry for you. She's supposed to worry about herself, but no, he asked me about you, wanting to know what's wrong"

"Shinn..."

Shinn could still remember the conversation between Captain Talia and the doctor. Anger crept into him. "Even if you have that badge pinned to your uniform and act almighty, it's useless if you cannot do anything!" He didn't realize it, but his words were more of a plea for help from the man in front of him. But, Athrun didn't notice it as well.

"What are you saying?"

"It's Earth Alliance's fault! Didn't you return to ZAFT to fight them!" Shinn yelled. "Stop them from doing their ghastly plans. Please try to fight better next time" He stomped off the deck, not really concerned about his outburst to Athrun. How could they treat Stellar as if she was just a piece of laboratory specimen? They had forgotten that despite what the Alliance had done to her, she still a human being. Unconsciously he fisted his hands. If Captain Talia and the doctor treating Stellar couldn't do anything, then it was up to him to help her. Shin began to formulate a plan. Since ZAFT cannot do anything to help, then perhaps it would be better just to return her to the Alliance. He remembered the name being uttered by Stellar. Neo. Yes, Neo would be able to help her. In order to contact Neo, he would need Gaia's identification code. With that, he sprung into action.

Still standing on the observation deck, Athrun pondered on what Shinn said. Somehow, the words were biting into him. He didn't return to ZAFT to fight Earth Alliance; he wanted to protect ORB and Cagalli. But somehow, along the way, his objective changed, and the urge to protect was extended to Minerva as well. Initially he didn't have any problem with that, but after the fight with Kira, he began to feel his resolve wavering. Heine told him that he would know what to do, but after Shinn's harsh words, he felt guiltier than ever.

* * *

That night, Shinn was typing rapidly on his computer, trying to hack Gaia's identification code. 

"What are you doing?" Rey's words caused Shinn to freeze.

He turned to face his roommate, trying to look as innocent as he could. "Nothing in particular" He then continued on his work. He didn't want Rey to know about what he was doing because Rey was a stickler for rules and would have stopped him.

"I see"

Shin heard the rustling of bed sheet and turned to see Rey lying back to sleep. Relieved, he turned to finish Gaia's decoding.

Meanwhile, in another room, Athrun was also typing on a computer. But he wasn't searching for any identification code. Instead, he was sending an email to Roy, one of his very trusted friend in PLANT. To anyone who was screening through the email to look for anything suspicious, they will be disappointed. It only contained a video recording of Athrun asking how the things were at PLANT, talking while Lacus's song was playing in the background and some attachments containing pictures of places his visited while on shore leave and Lacus' songs. In the video, he also reminisced on how the life was before the war. All in all, the email was a normal one.

However, to his friend, the message is a coded message. To prevent 'brute-force' decoding by possible spies, it uses ingenious method to encrypt a message. A normal encryption method would include the information being coded, two cryptographic keys, one which Athrun held and the other his friend. This is called asymmetric key encryption. The person sending the message will use his key to code the message whereby the recipient will use his own to decode it. With quantum computers being the norm, an encrypted message could be decoded by running it through rigorous key testing. Given enough time, anyone could gain access to the hidden content.

Athrun's message consisted of the message being encrypted as a series of watermark inside the attached songs. The pictures will contain embedded information on how to reorganize the watermarks to form the original encrypted message. It was one of his hobbies, aside from assembling miniature robots, which started when he was very young. He and few of his friends formed a group in primary school, and one of the things they did was to send secret messages to each other to break. The recipient of his message was one of them, a technician at ZAFT's research lab by day, and a hacker by night. Being one of Athrun's very few and closest friends he was very trusted by him. If the team that attacked Lacus and the others are really from ZAFT and under Gilbert, then there bound to be records of them, no matter how secretive the organization was. And whenever there are computer records, his friend could find out.

As he watched the computer displaying that the message has been sent, he leaned back on his seat and let out a tired breath. Despite what happened during the battle at Crete, he hasn't forgotten about his promise to Kira and the others. He would try his best to find out who was trying to kill Lacus. After all, she was his ex-fiancée and still one of his best friends. But truth be told, he really hoped that the investigation turns out negative. Athrun trusted Gilbert and understood his vision to end the war as fast as he could. And he was still angry with Kira and the others for intruding in the previous battles, especially for damaging his mobile suit. He looked at the screen and sighed, switching it off. Athrun wondered about what Shinn said about him joining ZAFT to fight Earth Alliance. He got up and shook his head.

* * *

Terrence walked around the mobile suit hangar. It has been two days since they arrived home to their underground base, hidden in the middle of the Siberian desert. Despite having living at the base for more than a year, the place still amazes him. It was so deep underground that it was undetectable by any kind of space-based sensors. When he first came there, he asked how a group like Cherubim managed to build such a place. The answer he got surprised him. The base has always been there for more than a hundred years; it was built during Cold War era by a government called Soviet Union. It has enough facilities and space to accommodate around 5,000 inhabitants, enough population for a small city. It even has its own nuclear power plant that could be used once fitted with N-Jammer Canceller. Cherubim found it, totally deserted while on the run from Earth Alliance. 

With the help of some personnel and equipments from the Sukhoi-Gurevich design bureau, they rebuilt the Sukhoi-Gurevich space port there. The original spaceport had to be destroyed to prevent Earth Alliance from having the capability to build Cherubim-class ships. The new port could match Morgenroete's facility in term of production capability. In fact, Terrence would love to build more mobile suits if the facility didn't suffer from a serious problem, lack of components and parts. He looked at a technician holding a component. "Be careful not to accidentally damage the components inside," he shouted toward him.

The man gave a thumbs up signal and continued on his work.

He then looked at two weapon platforms that he and other technicians were working on. The mobile suits designer walked toward them. Most of the job has been completed except for some minor tuning up. Terrence brought out his pocket computer and looked at its units' data and characteristics. Without problem, it would be completed on schedule.

"Here you are," a woman's voice called out.

He turned to see a mug of steaming hot cocoa being handed to him. "I will cherish this day, as my goddess Fllay Allster gave me a cup of hot cocoa filled with her love"

Fllay shrugged and drank hers. She then turned her attention at the unit he was looking at, "So, would you mind telling me about it?"

"That is the SturmVogel, one of the two weapon platform for Fallen's SIREN system"

"So the uncompleted unit besides it is also for SIREN?"

"Right"

"What's wrong with the uncompleted module?"

"Not enough components" He slurped his drink noisily. "Have to wait for another trip to the Junk Guild. When I was in ZAFT, all I need to do to get what I needed was to fill in electronic forms. But now I've to go shop and negotiate for them. Sometimes I feel like we're just a group of poor scavengers. Not enough parts, collect them from battlefields and trade them at the Guild; not enough men, go shoot down some mobile suits and capture castaways"

"But it works, right?"

"Hmm…" Terrence answered half heartedly. "What irks me is that we don't have enough to construct AURORA"

"How about the new mobile suits?"

"Come," he invited her to follow him.

They walked toward mobile suit sections. Fllay saw some of the Murasames she took down were there, as well as four unseen before mobile suits. The heads on the four mobile suits looked sleeker. It was as if someone has taken heads from Dagger units and flattened them a bit before installing them on the mobile suits. They were similar in appearance, although equipped with different weapons. She pointed toward one of them that had already been completed. "Looked like an underwater type to me" "

"Caching! You earn free kisses from me for guessing it right"

"I'll remember that when my shoes are dirty and needed to be cleaned"

"So, you want to be assigned to one of them? They have Naturals OS installed"

Fllay shook her head. "Then who will pilot Fallen?"

He couldn't answer that question. Everyone that tried to pilot the mobile suit have difficulty controlling it, even without Delimiter being switched on. After all, when he and his colleagues designed it, they made it to be nimble, even more than Freedom and Justice. However, its agility came with a cost. Only a select few can control it; and those few either have their own mobile suits or have gone to the place where they don't need mobile suits and mobile armors to fly. Sometimes, Terrence wished that he knew how she managed to do it. "I guess not, huh?"

"I guess so too" She took another sip before continuing to ask, "So what are you going to call the four of them?"

"I don't know… maybe Flugel Null, Schwer Waffe, Sand Fels and Tod Sense?"

"Sounds idiotic to me"

"They are just suggestions"

"While you're at it, maybe you want to give them wings with feathers. Then, every time they fly, they will have feathers dropping here and there, like angels"

Terrence mused. "Seemed like a good idea"

Fllay looked at him incredulously.

He laughed. "I was joking. Geez, who would do such a thing?"

"Oh" She held her mug in both hands and stared at Fallen, deep in thought.

Terrence looked at her for quite some time before deciding to ask. "By the way, I saw one of ORB's pilots that you shot down flirting with you three days ago. What did he say?"

"Nothing…," her eyes were distant, "… important"

He wasn't satisfied with the answer, but he nodded anyway. "Okay. Then let me ask you another one. What's on your mind?"

* * *

At another place far away, another person was answering to a question posed to her. 

"No, I'm thinking about history of mobile suits' history," Lacus said.

"What do you mean by that, Lady Lacus?" Da Costa asked.

"Mobile suits can be used for construction purposes. They also can perform search and rescue very well, compared to other vehicles. Since they have heights and can fly, they can put out fires easily. It's strange why we don't utilize this technology earlier, during peace time"

The man beside Lacus thought before answering. "Seems to me like most of new technologies will appear in the military first before they become available for civilian use"

"Exactly," Lacus answered as she began to move toward the mobile suit hangar.

Da Costa followed her.

The hangar was quite enormous, having the space and capacity to build and repair 15 mobile suits. Hidden inside a meteoroid along with Eternal, the two of them have been set up there since the end of the first war. The facility received most of its resources from PLANTS factions sympathetic to her father's cause.

Lacus smiled at workers there, showing her gratitude for their work. "I'm afraid that what we're doing is similar to ZAFT and Earth Alliance," she said to Da Costa.

"Sorry?"

"Here, we're also building new and more powerful weapons of war," she commented while narrowing her eyes. "It wouldn't do just to build one on par with theirs. Instead, like them, we're also trying to build units that will surpass theirs" She looked distraught. "Everyday, when I got up, I wonder whether what we're doing is right"

The man didn't expect to see that side of her and was surprised.

Lacus smiled faintly when she saw the look on Da Costa's face. "I do have my doubts now and then; it's just that I can't show them to everyone" She let out a tired sigh. "We're becoming more embroiled in the conflict"

"But we're trying to stop the war"

She smiled. "You're right. Thank you. We've decided to do what we can to stop the war and now it's the time we follow through our commitment"

"Right, Lady Lacus. Then maybe we can put our resources to building mobile suits for peace purpose"

She nodded. "Until that day comes, we have to do our best"

* * *

Shinn wheeled Stellar's bed toward Core Splendor, praying that the guards and the technician who were there not to see him. Unfortunately the bed's steel wheels made too much noise and they looked in his direction. 

"Hey, you! What are you doing?" One of the guards interrogated. Shinn continued pushing the bed in silence. Upon receiving no answers, the guards and his colleagues ran toward Shinn.

The ZAFT's ace pressed the elevator button while looking at the incoming sentries nervously. He could not fail now, not when he has almost reached Core Splendor's hangar. As they become closer and closer, his button pressing become more frantic. Just as the lift's indicator showed that it has arrived on the floor, the first guard was only a few meters away.

"Halt!" the guard ordered. But the commotion behind him caused him to look away from Shinn to see Rey punching the other guards. "What are you doing!" was the last thing he uttered before he was knocked out by Shinn.

Rey looked at the fallen sentries in front before turning to Shinn. "Are you going to return her to them?"

"Y… Yes" Shin looked at Stellar lying on the bed. "If this continues on, she will die. Then ZAFT will treat her like lab specimen" Shinn pushed the bed into the open elevator. "And I wouldn't let that happen"

Just as the elevator door was about to close, it was stopped by Rey's hand and was forced to open. "Are you going to return here after this?"

"Of course!"

"Then please hurry. I'll open the gate for you to launch" He looked away. "No matter how bad is her life, if she can stay alive, she probably wants to live it" Rey let the door close, looking determined.

As the elevator went up, Shinn wondered why Rey helped him and why he had that look on his face. But no matter. He will return Stellar and then return back to the ship, just as he promised his room mate.

Rey looked around the hangar to see it was empty. The technician probably went to fetch some help. In that case, he has to hurry. He moved in the direction of the control room to open the hangar door for Shinn. Then he noticed the technician's unconscious body and narrowed his eyes. Someone else was there. A frown creased his forehead as he knew who the person was. "What are you doing here?"

"Ah, I believe that's my script, considering you have knocked out the guards in broad daylight. Are you doing this because of 'his' order?" a masculine voice asked.

Rey walked slowly past the unconscious technician and saw a shadow crossing its arms leaning on a giant crate. "No. I'm doing it because of myself, what I want to do and because I pity her"

"Oh? And what would that be?"

He looked at the shadow and snorted. "Just do your own work and stay out of mine" Rey then walked away.

Still leaning against the crate and crossing his arms, a wry smile was on Heine Westenfluss's face.

* * *

1

* * *

**Author's note (30 November 2005)**

1) In accordance to Fanfiction's new rule, I am not going to respond to the reviews after the end of the chapter. Instead, I'll use the new reply feature. Ah well, you win some, you lose some. So, sorry to those who reviewed anonymously. But, to focus on the good side of it, if the question is bearing good explanation, and the answer is relevant to everyone, I'll be putting them under the author's note. The people who asked the questions will know who you are. Otherwise, I'll reply to them directly 2) One more chapter for this year. Then, I'm going to put the mobile suits stats. Hmm, Fallen MKII... it keeps reminding me of British's Chieftain tank. And Mortal Kombat II. I'll pass the name.  
3) When I say Fllay is weaker than Shinn, I'm comparing her fighting at the normal ability (around the same level with Sting and the others). But she used a 'Zero system' mobile suit and some other things… I don't want her to be an Ultimate Coordinator like Kira.  
4) Heine will be playing a bigger role aside from being shot down, that's for sure.


	11. The path of Destruction

Neo Lornoke rubbed Stellar's hair fondly before letting her walk to her mobile suit. Somehow, despite her training and indoctrination, Neo felt that Stellar was as innocent as a small girl. He gave a scornful look at the unit she will be piloting. He could still remember the ZAFT's ace's words.

"_Promise me you will take her away from the world of mobile suits and wars. Promise me you will send her to a peaceful place, where she didn't have to suffer, where she can dance happily" The boy's face was pleading for him. "Please, I beg of you"_

"Forgive me…"

"Eh? What did you say?" Sting Oakley asked.

"Nothing," Neo answered. In the end, the promise he had given to the man, no, the young boy had to be broken. There will be no way for Djibril to let Stellar off. And even if Neo kept her away from his clutches, she would die without her drugs. So, the only thing Neo could do at that time is to force Stellar to fight again.

"It could be worse"

"Neo?"

Neo looked at Sting. "I'm wondering about our current situation"

Sting chuckled. "Sure thing"

The Phantom Pain's colonel looked at his other pilot. As result of his conditioning, Sting thought everything was a game that he had to win. The human pilots inside enemy mobile suits were simply points that he has to collect. Neo sometimes wondered whether he's on the right side because of what he did in the name of Blue Cosmos. He ordered for Stellar to be erased from Sting and Auel's memory when she was captured for ZAFT; Auel from Stellar and Sting's memory when the blue haired boy died. The laboratory assistants who were doing the maintenance work on the Extended pilots didn't notice that Sting has somehow changed from being calm and level headed to being impulsive. Neo did. "Remember, we're going to provide escort to X1"

"All right. But I'll need to achieve my personal target today"

Neo looked as Sting entered Chaos. He had long admitted to himself that although he wasn't a good man, at least he had come to care about the three of them. He thought about Auel and unconsciously his hand went for a paper he kept on his breast pocket for quite some time. He took it out and stared at it. The paper was an unused basketball ticket. Neo bought the ticket for Auel to see his favorite basketball team in action, but the young man never had the chance to see it. Neo crumpled the ticket and threw it on the floor before walking toward his mobile suit. Perhaps when the war ends, he could ask for a reversal procedure to be carried out on Sting and Stellar. Then he could fulfill the promise he made to that ZAFT kid.

Maybe.

* * *

Kira stared through the glass window of Archangel, looking at ocean. It reminded him of the time when he and his friends went to the marine park in the Heliopolis. That was the time when Tolle fell into the dolphin tank, pulling him along. The accident earned the two of them the nickname "bottlenose" in the university. But despite that minor accident, he was very happy at that time. It was the first time he went out with his friends. He closed his eyes.

The life at the Heliopolis. So young, so carefree and so innocent. He sighed. It was a long time ago. A life time ago.

"Already missing her?"

Despite being gifted with tremendous sensory abilities, Kira was so deep in thought that the question surprised him. He turned toward the voice owner. Captain Murrue was smiling at him, winking. He smiled back softly. "You can say that" Murrue was like an older sister he never had. "Sorry for loitering around and doing nothing"

She shook her head. "You have been working hard, and deserve a rest"

Kira put a hand on the glass window in front of him. "Athrun said that we're wrong. What if we're wrong? Maybe Chairman Gilbert have very good intentions. Maybe the assassination was an error. He even said that she was helping Minerva unlike us"

Murrue arched an eyebrow. "She?"

"Fallen's pilot" His eyes became downcast. "Despite us doing everything that we can, many have died in the battle at Crete, few of them by her hands. But the strange thing is I can't blame her, nor can I blame everyone"

"It's because you understand that everyone was trying to do what they feel was right. To protect people that they cared about. Athrun, the pilot and everyone were doing just that at the battle. Although the way some people are doing it not right, we should never say their intent to protect their loved ones is wrong, Kira. Remember that"

Kira nodded.

"Isn't that what we are is doing? We come to the world, naked and vulnerable, seeking love and attention so that we can grow and bloom. In return, we will find someone whom we love and protect. The cycle will go on and on, from generation to another generation" Murrue smiled. "I'm not making much sense, am I?"

"Actually, you looked much older, you know, like a 90 year old wizened hermit when you say that"

"Kira, you ingrate" Murrue grabbed his head in a headlock and flicked his nose. She grinned when he flinched from it. "Washroom duty for you tomorrow"

He smiled. "Aye, aye, Captain"

* * *

Neo looked at the scene of the peaceful town in front of him. Under his command, X1-Destroy has already razed two towns. Despite that, he couldn't ignore the sickening feel in his guts.

"Bonaparte. Stop the advance and launch the Windams to provide cover while we return for rearming"

"But Lord Djibril told us to proceed"

"I know that!" Neo barked. Realizing that he has lost his temper, he had to calm before continuing. "He put me in charge, remember? I'm expecting fierce counterattack soon, so the two pilots need to rest a bit"

"Understood. Launching Windams to protect the base"

"Sting, Stellar. Return to Bonaparte for some maintenance" The maintenance he mentioned was their treatment.

Sting's face on the screen was frowning. "But I haven't fired anything yet while that weird suicide girl has all the fun"

"Don't worry. You'll probably see some action soon. Now go and charge Chaos' power. It wouldn't be good if our enemies attacked when your battery reserve is low.

He leaned on his pilot seat and adjusted his mask. Neo knew that giving the town's inhabitants two hours hour before annihilating it would be insufficient for all of them to leave the area, but it's the most he could give. Djibril would surely enquire about this. He muttered a curse.

He almost wished for someone to stop them.

* * *

Captain Barzhakov was roused from his sleep by a loud alarm near his bedside. He quickly put on his uniform and ran to the bridge. When the door opened, he was greeted by scenes of destruction on the ships screen. "Bozhe moi! What the hell is this?"

Jackson who was standing near the CIC panel had a grim look, a rare look for the jovial man. "The Alliance is launching an attack at western cities of Eurasia"

Barzhakov looked at the gigantic mobile armor destroying buildings. "Where is this happening?" he said as the screen turn black. The mobile armor has destroyed the camera recording its movement.

"Warsaw" Sammy, sitting at the communication control replied. "The video feed was from an hour ago, and judging from its direction, it may be moving toward Berlin"

The door opened and a disheveled Thames walked briskly toward the ship control. She quickly pressed some buttons. Then the whole ship shook as Cherubim's thrusters were switched on. "Network checking started. IFF, CIC, FCS, checked. Shadow Dancer, 92 efficiency. Everything is in order. Inputting Berlin's coordinates. Initiating launch sequence" She pressed a button and a mechanical voice boomed throughout the whole ship that the launch sequence was being initiated and everyone was advised to prepare themselves.

"Hey!" Jackson exclaimed. "What are you doing? The captain…"

"Thrusters engaged" Thames commanded, "You, the ORB newbie! Any sign of enemy satellites on top of us?"

"None" the personnel at the radar control replied.

Thames stifled a yawn. "Releasing restraining arms. Opening launch bays doors. Cherubim, lift off!"

The ship began to ascend from a deep underground bunker in the middle of a dessert. When it was a few meters above the ground, the doors of the bunker began closing.

"Captain!" Jackson called out. "What are we going to do?"

Thames pulled a bit on the control and Cherubim began to gain attitude and speed.

Barzhakov shrugged and tilted his cap. "Since Thames already launched the ship, we might as well go there. After all, someone has to stop it. Call all pilots to the briefing room and get Wilhelm and Terence to brief them"

Meanwhile, everyone on the Archangel's bridge watched the destruction wordlessly.

"Impossible…" Murrue uttered. "How can they do such things…"

Kira turned toward her. "I'm going"

She nodded. "All of us are going"

* * *

Wilhelm and Terence stood facing the assembled pilots.

"Well then, let's begin" Wilhelm said while pointing to Europe. "As all of you know, there are some parts in the western Eurasia that demand independence from Eurasia. In retaliation, the Alliance unleashed this behemoth" The screen showed a giant mobile armor. "Now, we don't know what's happening, but strangely enough, Terrence got this info while hacking into ZAFT's computers. Anyway, back to the story. This is X-1 Destroy. It can transform into a mobile suit. It has more weapons than this ship, plus it also carries positron deflectors. In other words, it's very strong" The screen showed it going though a city, destroying everything in its path.

"But it must be stopped," someone said

"True. Fallen and a squadron of Murasames will launch to engage it" Wilhelm pressed on the screen and it displayed a map. "We'll try to stop it here, at Berlin" He turned toward Terrence. "Your turn"

Terrence nodded. "Thank you, Wilhelm" He tapped on the screen and it displayed a 3D image of Fallen rotating. "Now, due to the short time, we only managed to complete the SIREN for Fallen," he explained seriously.

SIREN stood for Simultaneous Interception Robust Engagement Network, ZAFT's proposed multi-role weapon platform.

"Currently, we have fitted SIREN with Gamma module. Earth's gravity prevents Beta and Alpha module from being used effectively. Fallen will benefit from its added thrusters" He looked at Fllay and said, "I'll trust you'll make do with what you have"

She nodded.

The screen showed X-1 again. Terrence pointed to some spots on it. "The X-1 destroy is pretty much invincible, unless we can get close enough to use swords. Even a positron blast can easily be blocked by its numerous positron deflectors" Then picture of a red Murasame came up. "Up to now, we only managed to repair and upgraded a flight"

"Hey!" Someone commented. "How come you got the color scheme wrong?"

Terrence narrowed his eyes. "Picky, aren't you? Well, I feel the orange, smoky grey and white color scheme makes the mobile suits look cheap, so we painted it according to red color scheme"

"And you get the head wrong! It has a Windam's head on it," the man commented, triggering laughter from ORB military officers.

"… And I was about to tell you that we also made some modification to the optics and sensor system, replacing it with those from salvaged Windam"

"So, now it's called Winsame. Get it? Win some, Win same?" Wilhem interrupted. When no one laughed, he coughed and said, "We have no time to waste, Terrence. What are you waiting for?"

"Before we were served with a pathetic attempt to joke, I was about to show all of you this weapon. Please pay attention"

A diagram of missile was displayed.

"The AMREAD was developed by Eurasian Federation at the same time with Positron Deflector. In case you're wondering, it's like the story about a legendary sword that can cut through anything and a shield that can protect from everything. Eurasian designed this to destroy Earth Alliance's own Positron Deflector. A medium range missile and air launched by mobile armors, the energy armor disruptor can damage many kinds of energy shield, including Positron Deflector. However, it's quite large and heavy, so only one can be carried by a mobile armor at one time. Plus, it's quite slow and less maneuverable" He spotted a raised hand. "Yes?"

"Can it be used against Destroy?"

"Yes. After we disrupt the deflectors, we can attack it with ease. That's the good news. The bad news is Destroy have a lot of them. Even its gun barrels cum hands have one installed on each one of them. One AMREAD will deactivate only one shield generator. So in order to ensure success, every Murasame in the squadron will carry one. Yes?"

"Since it's quite heavy, wouldn't it hamper our movements?"

"Unfortunately, that's true. After all, it's designed to be carried by bombers, not fighters. That's why it will be launched from a safe distance"

"How are we going to achieve a lock without going near?

The question caught Terrence of guard. He forgot that despite the technological advance, ORB's Murasames mounted a similar radar system found on ZAFT mobile suits.

"I'll target it for you using laser guidance," Fllay answered. "I will go close enough to it and find out the shield generators' locations"

"Isn't that dangerous?" someone asked.

"It's more dangerous for the Murasames to get near it. Don't worry. I can do it. Just remember to fire the missiles at the same time. X1's pilot may shoot down some of the missiles, so we must make his job harder"

"That's impossible!" another protested. "How can you track every target at the same time?"

"Don't worry. Just trust me"

Wilhelm nodded. "Well, that's basically it. Fallen will target X1's shield generators and the Murasames will launch the missiles. But remember, even if we're successful in destroying the shield, it's not the end of the story. We will still need to destroy it"

* * *

Kira was making final preparation before launching when Mirrilia's face came on line. "Please stand by"

"Stand by?" He asked, not liking the directive. The more he waits, the more the innocent lives would perish under that huge thing.

"We have a visual of Cherubim coming behind us" Mirrilia was looking at something else. "They are contacting us"

The transmission ended with Kira looking at the standby text box blinking in front of him.

* * *

"What do you mean?" Murrue asked with suspicion. Their ships were moving side by side toward Berlin.

Barzhakov's sigh echoed. "I'M SUGGESTING THAT WE COOPERATE TO TAKE DOWN THAT THING, THAT'S ALL"

"Why should we believe you?"

Barzhakov was about to answer when he suddenly realized something and look down at his own uniform. "OH. I UNDERSTAND. WE'RE WEARING ALLIANCE UNIFORM, SO YOU DON'T BELIEVE US?

Cagalli looked at Barzhakov and calmly said, "We also couldn't forget that you have captured our mobile suits and personnel at the battle of Crete. And should we forget about you attacking us that day?"

Murrue's long time mentor chuckled. "TRULY A SPIRITED WOMAN, LADY CAGALLI. WE CAN ARGUE ALL WE WANT ABOUT WHAT WE DID LATER, BUT THE IMPORTANT THING NOW IS TO DESTROY THAT THING!"

"But…"

Enishi's face appeared on the screen. "PLEASE, LADY CAGALLI. WE SHOULDN'T FIGHT AMONG OURSELVES"

Captain Amagi who was commanding the CIC console on Archangel was surprised. "Enishi! Is that you?"

Enishi saluted. "YES, SIR. I KNOW THIS SOUND AWKWARD, BUT THERE ARE SOME OF US STATIONED ON CHERUBIM. PLEASE, LADY CAGALLI. ALTHOUGH THIS IS NOT ORB, WE COULDN'T STAND BY AND DO NOTHING"

Cagalli was relieved to see the personnel picked up by Cherubim were in good condition. She cracked a small smile. "We are going there to fight it too"

Murrue looked at Cagalli before looking to Barzhakov. "Very well, we'll work together, at least for now. What shall we do?"

* * *

Mirrilia's face reappeared on the screen in front of Kira. "We're going to work together with Cherubim to stop the Alliance's mobile armor"

"Okay" Kira nodded. _"Fallen"_ "What shall we do?"

"The ship will launch Fallen shortly. And together, the two of you will attempt to halt its movement. Achangel's and Cherubim's squadrons of Murasames will launch not long after that, with theirs carrying energy shield disruptors"

"Murasames?"

"The ones they stolen… sorry… recovered from the Battle of Crete that day along with their pilots. I'm not sure what happened to them, but now we're going to classify the Murasames with temporary friendly status. They will be placed under Cagalli's command for the duration of the battle"

"Understood"

"Sorry for making you wait" Mirrilia's face disappeared from the screen.

The speakers in the launch bay boomed with her voice. "CATAPULT SYSTEM ENGAGED. FREEDOM, YOU ARE CLEARED FOR LAUNCH"

Then the go indicator changed from red to green.

"Kira Yamato. Freedom. Launch"

* * *

Mobile Suit Neo Operation System

**G** eneration

**U** unsubdued

**N** etworked

**D **elimiter

**A **ssisted

**M** odule

Module equipped : **SIREN (Gamma)**

Series AVIC-T15 Fallen LA-SE1Z3

CHERUBIM

"So this is Fallen's main OS looks like without the patch," Fllay commented. "Anyway, it looked better without his ugly name smearing the screen"

A text box appeared on the screen to her left. _"Are you badmouthing me as usual?"_

She narrowed her eyes and typed a reply._ "Yes. But why are you using text instead of the normal communication?"_

"_:-p Sorry, the coms cannot be used"_

"_:-( Why?"_

"_I blew Fallen's com system while installing SIREN. I have no time to correct it"_

"_Figures. I thought ZAFT would have better equipments… "_

"_Hey! No gratitude at all!. :-! And in case you forgot, some of the equipments onboard your mobile suit are from Eurasian. Anyway, I've managed to update the OS so that it will respond better to user interface as well the upgraded weaponry. Just remember that since you'll be carrying only 16 high maneuverability missiles, make every shots count"_

"_Okay"_

"_Don't get to close to Freedom. I might get jealous"_

Fllay rolled her eyes at the message and decided to ignore it. When the light in front of her mobile suit changed to green, she engaged the linear catapult system. Fallen moved out of Cherubim at high speed.

* * *

1

* * *

**Author's Note** (7 December 2005) 

1) I'm going to put up the mobile suits stats after I've gone through it to weed out errors. Now, I'm not sure whether I should merge it with ship's stats or put it at the second chapter. I also have some weapon description, so any suggestion, people? Should I arrange it in this way :  
Chapter 1) Ships stats (I think we'll be seeing at least another ship, but that will come much later),

Chapter 2) Mobile suits stats,

Chapter 3) Weapons glossary (Since I don't intend to describe most of the weapons in detail in the story, I'll put the description here),

Chapter 4 and above ) story

Please tell me what you think, whether you have any suggestion or not. I'm all screen. By the way, would you prefer me to lump all the mobile suits together? Or append to the chapter as we go along, adding new mobile suits as they make their appearance?

2) Now, since you're reading this AU story, it's bit redundant to say that I'm going to change the story a bit by bit. But... oh well, you have been informed. It wouldn't do just to rehash the whole of GSD almost idea per idea. The change will be gradual.

3) It seems to me that my story are becoming longer and longer. I feel like writing the whole war story instead of a Fllay x Kira fic. When I start this story, the battle of ORB is supposed to take place in chapter 10, with the story estimated to be around 40,000 at most. Now, I'm looking at 70,000 as a safe estimate. As Stellar would say, "Kowaii!" Hope you bear with on that.

4) If I can finish the next chapter just in time, I'll update it before Christmass. By just in case, Merry Christmass and a Happy New Year. Just don't stuff yourself with stuffing.


	12. Two angels in Berlin

Kira looked at the screen on his right to see Fallen flying beside his own mobile suit. Instead of the normal jet pack, the black and red mobile suit was carrying something that looked like a diamond on its back, resembling the ancient F-22 Raptor he saw in aeronautical museum back at Heliopolis. The device made it almost similar to Providence Raww La Creuset had piloted, except that it didn't have any DRAGOON units and has two long booster rockets with rocket launcher attached to it. He was told that Fallen's design was based on Freedom and Providence, and he could see the similarities.

As the two flew toward the towering mobile armor, Kira used the time to think about Fallen's pilot. Athrun knew that the pilot was female; that means he has communicated with the pilot. Kira pressed a few button, trying to open a communication channel between the two mobile suits. "Hello? Fallen's pilot?"

There was no answer.

Kira tried few more times in vain. He also hacked into Cherubim's channel but was unsuccessful in getting Fallen to answer. Its pilot was simply not responding to all kind of visual and auditory communications. He switched to text input. _"Hello? Fallen's pilot?"_

Few moments passed before a text message notification appeared on one of the screens. _"Yes?"_

Kira quickly typed a reply. _"Are you a female?"_

"_Yes. Why do you ask?"_

Kira smiled. The expression disappeared when he had that tell tale flash again. It was impossible for such thing to happen, he told himself. He himself saw what happened. Impossible. _"Just wondering. Are you the one piloting it at previous battles?"_

"_Yes. Don't take it personally"_

"_None taken. Your piloting is very good"_

"_Thank you, but are you flirting?"_

Kira gulped. _"No. I'm just stating a fact"_

"_In that case, thank you"_

"_Are you an Alliance officer?"_

Few seconds passed by before the reply came. It was obvious that the pilot hesitated to answer the question. _"Not exactly… But you can say that I'm with OMNI"_

Oppose Militancy and Neutralize Invasion. The hidden meaning told him much about Cherubim. He quickly typed on the keyboard. "_It wouldn't do for us to be working together without knowing each other's name. I'm Kira. What's yours?"_

He didn't have the opportunity to send the message as a laser forced them to move away from each other. Fallen sped ahead, firing its beam gattling. Kira pressed the throttle forward while calibrating Freedom's weapons toward Destroy.

The battle in Berlin has begun.

* * *

As Fallen twisted and turned to evade the attacks from the escorting Windams, its pilot tried to get the bearing on Destroy. After much maneuvering, she found the energy shield generators. But when a green gunbarrel appeared in front of her, Fllay has to abort her intention of targeting the generators. 

Fallen fired few bursts at Chaos, but the human CPU piloting wasn't an easy prey. Chaos then unleashed its Firefly missiles. Fallen destroyed most of them, letting the others hit its body. Fllay knew the Phase armor will protect Fallen from the resulting explosions, and she prepared herself for the subsequent attacks. Chaos didn't disappoint her and shot, but it could easily be blocked by Fallen's shield.

She looked for Freedom to see it battling a purple Windam and its escorts. _"Flaga"_ Her right hand moved toward the keyboard to type a message to Freedom, but she had to withdraw it to control her mobile suit and executed a loop to escape from two incoming rockets. A rookie Windam pilot was eager to add her name to his list of kills. Fallen flew behind it and grabbed its pack. The immobilized Windam was used as a shield as Fallen shoots down a few of its colleagues.

But Fallen had to release its grip on the Windam's pack to escape when Chaos attacked. Fallen managed to get away, but the shots hit the Windam's energy reactor and it exploded. The explosion propelled Fallen away.

Sting would have gave chase to it, but Fallen's gattling spewing green laser at Chaos convinced him to be more cautious.

* * *

Barzhakov looked at his former protégé. "Is Lady Cagalli ready to launch? We have no time to waste" 

Archangel's launch bays opened. The pink mobile suit launched followed by a section of Murasames

"CAGALLI HAS LAUNCHED"

He signaled for Cherubim's Murasame section to launch. "Please take care of them"

Cagalli's face appeared on another screen. "OF COURSE I WILL. THEY BELONG TO ORB, AFTER ALL"

He smiled and bit a snide comment from escaping from his lip. "Let's get this thing over with" He turned toward the weapon operator and nodded. "Give them fire support"

The weapon operator inputted some data. "Attention, load all missile tubes with Soyuz. Gottfried and Valiant deployed. Target designated: Destroy"

Barzhakov shifted his view toward the screen showing Murrue's image. Besides it was another screen was showing Fallen and Freedom's battle against Destroy and its escorts. "Ready, Murrue? Synchronized volleys"

Murrue nodded. "READY"

"FIRE!"

* * *

Kira stared in shock at as Destroy transformed into a giant mobile suit. Then, Freedom's radar signaled incoming barrage from behind. He quickly moved Freedom away from its path. Just before the barrage hit Destroy, it activated its shields. The shots, be it projectiles or beams, were deflected harmlessly. 

"Impossible…," he uttered.

Before he could do anything else, a warning tone warned him to take evasive action.

It was that purple Windam and the units it commanded. As Freedom twisted and turned, the Windam could easily catch up to it, despite being inferior in capabilities. The pilot was obviously very skilled and experienced.

Kira shot its hip cannons and the purple Windam flew behind some tall buildings, evading them. It then emerged and fired its rifle. As Freedom blocked its shots, Kira was busy trying to target it. But he couldn't do that as the Windam's escorts fired. The shots were much synchronized, forcing Freedom not to stop for even a second. "What's up with this Windam? How come I seem to know him?"

Another tone beeped. Destroy has launched numerous missiles toward Freedom. Kira activated his SEED ability.

* * *

Meanwhile, Fllay was having a hard time too. Chaos has transformed into mobile armor and flew around the battle field at high speed. She tried to shoot at it using Fallen's beam rifle, but it was destroyed by a shot from a Windam. 

Fllay looked at a red triangle button in front of her. The Delimiter button. She could only use it effectively if she released her locked capabilities. Although she could take down the Windams and perhaps Chaos with given time, she couldn't waste any more time as her radar showed that the section carrying AMREADs has just launched. The longer they stay in the air without launching the missiles, the more vulnerable they will be. After much vacillation she decided that she needed to do it.

Making a hand signal, she then pressed the button. Instantly the visor on her helmet came down, covering her view while the instruments in Fallen's cockpit stopped glowing. Fllay felt fleeting sensation engulfing her being. It was as if her awareness has merged with Fallen; it optical viewers became her eyes and its sound receptor became her ears. She would have believed that if she hadn't done it before. The figures and numbers being displayed along with the outside view of the cockpit on her visor also reminded her that she was still in her body.

She looked around her and saw Chaos and five Windams. Her eyes darted from one to another, pausing on each one for a fraction of second. The array of optical sensors embedded inside her helmet picked up the changes in the movement and processed the information to triangulate the position of her targets. "Bling" The tone indicated that the targeting computer has acquired the targets and a round crosshair appeared on each of them. Fallen then launched eight missiles from its twin Valor boosters.

As the missiles were moving toward on their respective targets, Fllay imagined in her mind everything around her; the missiles, all nearby Windams, Chaos, Freedom and Destroy. The information extracted from her brain was fed to the missiles navigation system. Besides helping her to achieve locks on her targets, the visor on her helmet made it easier for her to focus as it cut out possible distraction. It also provided her with better view of what was behind Fallen. Fllay has just finished creating the imaginary paths for the missiles when the warning beep went off. She pressed the left pedal and Fallen moved to the left, evading lasers coming from behind her. It was Destroy.

It was almost time for Fallen to carry out its mission as the Murasames had launched. Using lasers illuminators mounted on its head, just above the CIWS, it began pinpointing the energy shield generators with laser lights. But at the same time, Fllay maintained her attention on the missiles as she directed their vectors. Blue dots on Fallen's radar told her that the Murasames have found their targets and were moving into bombing run. Gritting her teeth, she tried to concentrate on all the information presented by the computer. She had to maintain the laser illumination most of the time as well as keep track of the missiles she launched.

* * *

Sting Oakley looked at the incoming missiles on the radar. Then as three broke away and began to pursue him, he let out a string of curse. He targeted one of it and was surprised when the missile seemed to have a mind of its own and changed direction. 

"What the hell…" He couldn't think about what happened as two missiles were closing in from his behind.

Chaos turned and raised its shield just in time to block a missile from slamming into it. The explosion threw the green mobile suit backward.

"Heh. Intelligent missiles, huh? I'll show you who's intelligent. Chaos launched its gun barrels to intercept the remaining missiles, but to Sting's surprise, the missiles changed their course again . His gun barrels were destroyed almost instantly.

"Shit"

Explosions around Chaos told him that the Windams escorting it were taken out

"Damn you!" he uttered, cursing Fallen.

* * *

"Lady Cagalli, we have achieved lock on!" 

Cagalli looked at the screen to see the red Murasames behind her spreading out. They were going to launch the missiles. Fallen has probably locked on for them. "LAUNCH AMREAD!"

One by one, the Murasames released their payload. At first, the missiles were floating in the air. Then their engines started and missiles streaked toward their target, leaving white smoky trails behind them.

"Lady Cagalli," Vince, piloting one of the red Murasames contacted. "What should we do now?"

"You guys from Cherubim will follow me and protect any civilians nearby, whereby those from ORB will help engage Destroy's escorts" She felt a bit guilty for treating the Murasames from Cherubim as if they were from another team. She was not sure how to classify them; they were based in Cherubim, after all, despite their pilots' allegiance. "We still have lot to do. Everyone, please lend me your strength"

"YES!" Everyone answered.

* * *

Freedom's radar registered the missiles launched by the Murasames. But the pilot of the Destroy saw them coming too. Before it launches its hands to intercept the missiles, Kira quickly fires its weapons at the towering mobile suit to distract it. The tactic was successful and Destroy turned toward Freedom and fired a volley of rockets. 

Kira quickly destroyed the rockets. Just as the rockets exploded, he heard secondary explosions. Three of AMREAD missiles were destroyed by the purple Windams, leaving only three left. He shifted his attention toward it to see that the purple Windam has received additional backups.

He must defeat them to make sure the missiles could found their targets safely. Somehow targeting the Alliance mobile suits all at once was impossible as the purple Windam was very agile. The pilot must be very skilled. Very skilled, just like…

Kira gasped as a name crossed his mind.

* * *

Fllay looked as Freedom tried to stop the remaining missiles from being destroyed. However, doing it would be hard because by shifting its attention the Windams, the Destroy was free to destroy the missiles. She had to do something. Then the alarm screamed and she had to take evasive action against Chaos's rifle shots. 

Fallen engage its boosters and sped toward Destroy while simultaneously launching its last missiles. Two of them were directed at Chaos while the rest were to distract Destroy.

She must ensure the three remaining AMREADs find their marks or everything would have been for naught.

* * *

Captain Talia Gladys narrowed her eyes at the screen showing the two ships and their mobile suits working together. It was the first time she and the crew of Minerva saw Cherubim. Unlike Chairman Gilbert's prediction, the ships were dissimilar in appearance. 

The other fact that interested her more was that it seemed that the two ships have closer ties than she thought. It would be best for the chairman to be advised of this fact, despite him wanting to meet with Cherubim's captain and perhaps discuss its entry into ZAFT's fold.

Arthur Trine, her assistant turned toward her. "Captain. What should we do? The two ships are there"

"We do what we were ordered to. Launch Impulse and Gaia to fight Destroy"

"But Captain, who should we ask to launch? Athrun or Heine?"

As if answering Arthur's question, Heine's face came on screen. "I would like to volunteer for this mission as I have piloted a BeCue before"

Talia nodded. "What does Athrun say?"

Athrun came to the screen. "I agree with the suggestion. I believe he can handle Gaia better than me, as Gaia is suited to close combat"

She nodded. "Very well. Heine, will you lead the mission"

"No"

"Why?"

"Because I believe that we should have our own initiative. After all, in the battle field, ZAFT's pilots are considered equal. Perhaps the two of us can come up with something"

"Very well. But only this time" Talia wondered why Heine was so insistent about Shinn being allowed a free reign. The young ace has just been released from custody along with Rey because of what they did. Knocking medical and security personnel, releasing enemy soldier, went missing without authorization and piloting mobile suit without permission; those offences were more than adequate enough to warrant death by firing squad. Even she and Arthur were supposed to face disciplinarian action due to the fact that the pilots, Impulse, the enemy's Extended and Minerva's security were under their command.

When she opened the order from ZAFT's headquarter, she already steeled herself for a very harsh punishment for all parties involved. But when she discovered that the sentence was merely a slap on the wrist for Shinn and Rey while she and Arthur weren't even mentioned at all, she felt weird. But Talia was relieved enough to let the matter drop. But now Heine asked her to allow the hotheaded ace to be allowed to do anything that he wants. That could cause the young firebrand pilot's ego to inflate. A big and hot headed Shinn would surely be hard to handle. "I just hope that if after this he becomes bigheaded, his head isn't empty because then he would be full of hot air," she mumbled.

"Sorry, Captain. You were saying?" Arthur asked, not understanding what his captain was saying.

"Nothing. Meyrin, launched Gaia and Impulse"

"Yes, ma'am"

* * *

As her final missile slammed into Destroy's head, obscuring its view, Fllay watched with satisfaction as the remaining shield disruptor missiles hitting their target at almost the same time. 

Not wasting any time, she fired a few shots. Few manage to get through Destroy's torso before it defended itself. But the shots almost left on mark on its thick armor. It was probably protected with beam dissipation coating. Fllay narrowed her eyes. Since the armor was very thick, the only way to stop it was to use beam swords.

Then display inside her helmet displayed two dots on the 3D radar, with one on the ground while another was airborne. Impulse and Gaia.

Gaia attacked Destroy from far away using its rifles. The attack distracted it long enough for Impulse to move closer to it and slashed at the cockpit area. Despite the long gash the ZAFT's mobile suit inflicted, the mobile suit's pilot was still alive as the section had very thick armor. In response to the attack, Destroy shot multiple streams of beam from its laser ports, incinerating everything in their paths.

Fllay moved Fallen in front of Destroy to take a look and perhaps snipe at pilot if the opening was big enough. It was enough for a beam shot to go through. Fallen raised its gattling gun, flicking the single shot option. Besides it, Impulse was engaging its boosters to attack the cockpit once more. Fllay magnified the screen more than hundred times until she could see the pilot. Her finger was already on the trigger. The targeting crosshairs finally stop a point, indicating that the shot would be accurate. Just one shot would be enough.

But that shot never left the gattling gun. Fllay choked as multiple images and sensations assailed her, images, emotions and sensations that didn't belong to her. Waves of betrayal, pain, desolation, fear, anger and confusion also swept through her.

She managed to gain control of herself after a while. She disengaged the Delimiter system and leaned back. Breathing heavily while, ignoring sweats pouring from her forehead, Fllay zoomed the camera to the pilot's face and saw a very scared girl. The girl must have gone through worse trauma than she had. The fact that they have some similarities probably explains why she had some kind of a bond with the human CPU. Fllay released her hold on the trigger button, fingers shaking.

For the first time since she started piloting Fallen, Fllay didn't know what to do.

* * *

1

* * *

**Author's note (14 December 2005)**

1)This is the first out of the three chapters for Berlin. I know this chapter can't fit inside a stockin unless you print it up and stuff it inside the stockin; or get a big burlap bag, pretend as if it's a stockin and cover your computer screen with it. But, Merry Christmass and Happy New Year. I was going to wait until 24 or 25, but then I thought, "Oh well, just upload it now." As for the rest of the month, I'm going to take a look at the earlier chapters to rid them of grammatical errors while adding newer errors at the same time.

2) You know, I somehow like the way a typical Japanese will mention English name a bit differently. Freedom – 'Fridam', Legend – 'Legento', Destiny – 'Dess 'ti' ny'. My favorite one will be Buster – 'Basta'. I could imagine the crew of Archangel calling out, "Kore wa Aegis, Blis (Blitz), Duel, Basta (Buster)". I don't know why, but I really, really like the way they mentioned it. So, guessing a bit, Fallen will be 'Fa len'. Hmm... I'm babbling nonsense here.

3) I put in Mobile Suits Stats and Weapon Glossary in chapter 1 & 3. Should you have no idea about some of the weapons, feel free to visit the chapter. It's not mentioned in the mobile suit stats page, but I'm planning for Duel and Buster predecessors in later chapters. Even the names for them I have picked up. I'm thinking about another two or three mobile suits.


	13. Descent to madness

From his cockpit, Kira was wondering what in the world had happened. First, Impulse and Gaia appeared and attacked Destroy, managing to damage the cockpit's entrance. Then Fallen aimed its cigar shaped gattling gun at the cockpit, while Impulse was going to attack using its sword again. But both halted their attacks. Fallen lowered it gun while Impulse was stopped by the purple Windam which was fighting him earlier. The manner the Windam stopped Impulse was unorthodox, ramming into it. It's like the pilot was trying to stop the Impulse pilot from doing something rash. The Earth Alliance and ZAFT's mobile suits near to each other seemed out of place in the scene of desolation.

It was not the time to waste thinking about such things. Kira fired Freedom's hip cannons at Destroy's exposed cockpit. The shots didn't get through the mobile suit's thick armor. He then flew toward Impulse and nearby Fallen. "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING? ARE YOU TRYING TO BE SITTING DUCKS!" he shouted through Freedom's loud hailer at Impulse. Actually, he was quite confused and concerned with Fallen's pilot's sudden change.

As if angry at what Kira did, the purple Windam attacked Freedom, firing its rifle. The shots were easily blocked by Freedom's shield. But Freedom was forced to release the shield when the Windam's armor piercing Stiletto destroyed it.

Kira became quite certain that the man inside the purple Windam was somehow connected to Mwu La Fllaga. Even the flying style was similar. He contacted Archangel. "Captain Murrue, Please take of this"

"Yes" she answered with a confused tone.

Noticing the Windam was approaching him, Kira pulled the lever controlling the boosters, cutting them off and caused Freedom to suddenly drop below the Windam. Maneuvering Freedom to twist so that it faces the Windam, Kira fired two shots, each one targeted at the Windam's shoulders and wings. The Windam dropped like rock without its arms and wings. As the Windam trying to make an emergency landing, Kira turned his attention back to the others.

* * *

The MPG-5Z beam submachine gun vibrated in the hands of a red Murasame, spewing death in short burst at a Windam in front it. As the Windam fell to the ground and exploded, the Murasame lowered the gun and looked around. 

Cagalli's face appeared on a screen on the mobile suit. "Is the area clear?"

"Yes, Lady Cagalli," Vince answered.

"Any sign of survivors?"

He shook his head. "Not even a body"

"Please keep looking"

"Understood"

As Cagalli's face disappeared, Vince examined the battery reserve on the MPG-5Z magazine. Just three percent power left. Sighing, he changed the power clip on the gun. Only two clips left and still a lot more area to cover. As his 'Winsame' walked around the demolished city blocks looking for possible survivors, he briefly thought about how different piloting the mobile suit. It felt a bit sluggish than he liked it to be; probably because of the added weight. However, the inclusion of better optics and MPG-5Z more than make up for the disadvantage.

Peering from a corner of a building, Vince noticed that there was nothing on a street except for a totaled GINN. Proceeding carefully, his mobile suit walked as its head looked around. He would have missed the movement from GINN if he was busy looking at his compatriots fighting Chaos in the sky. He brought out the shield just in time to cover his cockpit. The GINN emptied all of its machine gun's ammunition harmlessly on the shield.

After the machinegun stopped, Vince continued his advance on the mobile suit. Just to be safe, his shield was kept raised while MPG-5Z was trained at the GINN's cockpit. Although the attack almost cost him his life, he couldn't blame the GINN's pilot for attacking him as the situation was chaotic. In fact, there was no mistaking the fact that ORB joined Earth Alliance. Stopping just a few meters away, Vince was surprised when the ZAFT's mobile suit's cockpit open, revealing a pilot with his hands up. What surprised him more was the fact that there were two children hugging around the pilot in fear. Setting the audio receptor to a level sensitive enough, he heard what the pilot said.

"Please, if you're going to kill me, at least let the children go off first"

Vince smiled and lowered his weapon. The pilot probably saved the two of them when Destroy attacked the town and brought them into his cockpit for protection. Suddenly the war didn't look as hopeless as it seemed. "Lady Cagalli, I have three survivors over here. Will get them to safety"

* * *

Sting was grunting and cursing, trying to get his Chaos away from the pursuing Murasames. With half of Chaos's weapons destroyed and its escorts shot down Fallen, he was outnumbered. He turned his attention toward one of them, the other two attacked, forcing him to stop. He quickly considered his options. He could run away or he could fight and run the risk of being shot down. 

A blocked shot from a missile shook his cockpit, causing him to look in the direction of the power indicator. It indicated that Chaos has only enough power for another five minutes before the Shift Phase armor will power down. When that happens, he will be in a vulnerable position. He decided that discretion is the better part of valor. "Bonaparte, I'm retreating"

He then turned toward the land carrier, trying to make his escape. But the loud ringing of the cockpit's warning system reminded him of the three Murasames he was fighting. "Damned those mosquitoes. If only I have the gunbarrels, I would have taken care of them easily" It was hard trying to attack them as every time he turned his attention toward one of them, the other two would take that chance to attack him. Sting has to admit that the pilots were good. Not as good as him, of course, but when they worked together, they managed to keep even him occupied. What annoyed him was that if ORB pilots were so skilled, how come they didn't manage to defeat and sink Minerva when they were fighting together with Earth Alliance? All they did was damaged that blasted ZAFT ship.

Another siren blared and he evaded a laser aimed at Chaos' cockpit, chiding himself for having an internal monologue while in the middle of a battle. The narrowly avoided laser went through the mobile suit's torso, crippling the controls for the legs' boosters. Since it cannot move freely, Chaos couldn't evade the next two laser shots, only moving a bit so that they wouldn't hit its cockpit. Inside it, all screens were showing red warning text while emitting sounds that told Sting that everything that can go wrong will go wrong. Chaos' damages were too severe.

As the green mobile suit came crashing to the ground, Sting fiddled with the controls, trying to at least to land it safely. But if he had thought that the Murasames would let him off, he was wrong. One of them, probably the flight leader took out its beam saber and pursued Chaos. It slashed Sting's mobile suit into half, setting off two spectacular explosions in the middle of Berlin's airspace.

* * *

Inside Cherubim's hangar, Terrence, along with others were watching the fight at a large screen intently, when a personnel's face came online. "Terrence" 

Amidst groaning from everybody else, he replied, "What is it, Sammy?"

"Please send all information we have on Destroy to Fllay"

"What?" Terrence exclaimed in surprise. "What is she doing now? Okay, okay, just get off the screen and I'll see to it" The screen changed back to the ongoing fight and he walked to his terminal, typing a text message to Fllay _"What exactly do you want?"_

Three seconds later the reply came. _"I want all plans and stats we have on Destroy"_

"_What are you going to do? Read?" _Terrence typed while asking for someone nearby to fetch the information from the ship's database.

"_I want to locate the position of the power supply cables"_

"_Why in the hell do you want to do that?"_

"_I just want to disable Destroy"_

"_Are you going crazy?" _Despite what his misgiving, Terrence pressed the 'Enter' button to transmit the information. He asked, he wondered how in the world she was going to accomplish that. Perhaps if she's a Coordinator, she would have a better chance of succeeding. But even a Coordinator would need some time to examine the schematics, a luxury Fllay didn't have.

"_Maybe I am"_

* * *

Kira was surprised when Impulse stopped him from attacking Destroy, slashing wildly its sword. Not sure of what happened to the ZAFT's pilot, he moved Freedom away. But rather than pressing its attack, Impulse turned toward Destroy, floating slowly toward it, as if wanting to show to the Destroy that it was not a threat. Kira narrowed his eyebrows. What did the Impulse's pilot think he was doing? 

Then, as Impulse got nearer and nearer Destroy, while avoiding the poorly aimed beams, its pilot opened the speakers. "STELLAR! IT'S OKAY NOW, STELLAR!"

Kira was stunned. _"He knew the pilot?" _He watched as Impulse stopped right in front of Destroy, hovering in place. As Destroy slowly raise its left hand toward Impulse, Kira's hands were tightly wrapped around the joysticks, ready to attack at the last possible moment. He looked at Fallen to see it also hovering in place. On the ground, the black mobile suit that was capable of transforming into a BeCue was firing at the gigantic mobile suit to distract it. However all of the shots were absorbed its armor harmlessly.

Meanwhile, despite the inherent danger Impulse was in, its pilot didn't waver and continued calling out to Destroy's pilot. "STELLAR! YOU WILL NOT DIE! I WILL PROTECT YOU FROM NOW ON!"

Nothing happened for a few seconds. Then slowly the hand began to lower. Kira was shocked and didn't know how to make out what was happening.

* * *

Heine reached for the communication button. Instantly, Captain Talia appeared on one of the screen. "Yes, Captain?" 

"What is happening there?"

"I am not sure, but it seemed that Shinn managed to make the monster's pilot stand down" Gaia jumped away as a large missile created a crater where it was standing a few moments ago. Heine looked at the direction where the missile came from and saw the Earth Alliance land battleship Bonaparte. "Minerva, since Shinn has already taken care of the big mobile suit, I'm going for the mothership"

"Understood" Captain Talia signed off.

Gaia transformed itself into BeCue mode and ran toward Bonaparte, firing its weapons at some Daggers guarding it.

* * *

From the information Terrence has transmitted to her, Fllay finally found the weak points that can disable Destroy. To her confusion, she didn't feel anything negative coming from Destroy's pilot. In fact, the pilot was filled with a wonderful feeling, directed toward the Impulse pilot. Fllay closed he eyes for a brief moment, savoring the sensation. It was the feeling she had before she died. 

She would have been contended to remain witness to the interaction between Destroy's and Impulse pilot but when the feeling suddenly disappeared, she knew that something was wrong. There was a minor secondary explosion near Destroy and she felt panic crept into the girl. When the girl saw Freedom, Fllay began to feel the wave of pain once more. The girl was terrified of Freedom that has killed her father figure.

Knowing that she has to take the opportunity to shoot at Destroy, Fllay reactivated Delimiter. A yellow warning light flashed, telling her that she was operating it longer than she should. She decided to ignore it and focus at the task on hand which was to attack Destroy's weak point. Meanwhile, the mobile suit in her sight began to transform into a black ogre with a tortoise shell on its back. Fllay knew that she herself has begun to hallucinate. That meant that it would only be safe to operate the system for another three minutes. To make things worse, her eyesight began to blur because of the massive headache she felt. Despite that she persisted, trying to aim the gattling gun at the exact spot on Destroy. As the Destroy shown on the screen in front of her began to move threateningly toward Impulse, Fllay bit her lips, trying to will it to stop so that she could aim at the weak spot accurately. As if hearing her unspoken thought, Destroy stopped. But not as she hopped for as it began to charge its positron cannons. Meanwhile, Impulse's pilot tried to call for the Destroy's pilot to stop but it was in vain.

After what seemed like an eternity, the targeting computer made a beeping sound, indicating that the target has been acquired. Fllay would have fired the shot that would have disabled the huge mobile suit if not for the white and blue streak covering her view. Freedom has moved to Destroy's front and stabbed its beam sword at Destroy's cannons. The cannons continued glowing for a few seconds before exploding, throwing Impulse away. As if dying, Destroy fell to the ground on its back, firing its last positron beam from its mouth.

Inside Fallen, Fllay put her hands on her helmet as she felt multiple piercing pain inside her brain. The throbbing headache became stronger and stronger as she became drowned in them. The sensations became more and more intense until they became almost unbearable. Then, something inside her snapped and Fllay screamed as she was bombarded with multiple images and feelings she didn't even knew existed. It was overwhelming that she lost track of everything. Without her controlling Fallen, the mobile suit crashed into the ground. Fortunately, its automated inertial controls kicked in the last minute to slow down its descent. Despite that, the cockpit still shook from the impact.

But Fllay was oblivious to it. "Please, stop it," she whimpered as torrents and torrents of pain passed through her, begging for them to cease tormenting her. Meanwhile, the yellow warning light on the Delimiter system turned into red and was glowing softly.

* * *

Kira looked at Destroy in regret. He really wished that the pilot stopped. When he saw the cannons were going to fire at Impulse, he had no choice but to attack. Sighing, he contacted Archangel. Captain Murrue wasn't there and he was greeted by Neumann's face instead. She probably went down to fetch the pilot of the purple Windam. "Archangel, I'm returning" 

"Understood. By the way, how's your date?"

"Date?" Kira asked confusedly.

"Fallen"

"Oh. I'll search for it. Kira out"

Kira looked around, finally finding Fallen slowly trying to stand up. Freedom moved closer while Kira tried to hail its pilot through radio again but was unsuccessful. He typed a text message and sent it to her. _"Are you all right?"_

Fallen stood up straight. _"Yes"_

"_Good. Then let's go home"_ Kira grimaced at his choice of words. It was as if he was asking Fallen to follow him back to Archangel. He blinked. Despite how wrong it sounded, somehow it felt the right thing to say. But why is it so?

"_Wait"_

"_Yes?"_ Freedom landed next to Fallen.

"_I really understand why you did it…"_

From his cockpit, the mobile suit looked as if it was staring down.

"_I know it had to be done"_

Kira felt that something was not right as he read the incoming message.

"_But you attacked a crying girl"_

Kira gasped. He did what? Then, realizing that the pilot probably meant Destroy's pilot, he quickly typed a reply in defense. _"But it couldn't be helped. I had stop her"_

"_I still admit that it had be done"_

"_Then, why are you behaving strangely?"_

"_Because I can't forgive you… and I can't forgive myself for not stopping you. I know what I'm going to do next is wrong, but I still want to do it"_

Fallen pulled its beam sword and activated it. Kira's eyes widened as Fallen's optical sensors glowed brighter.

"_So please don't take me lightly. Fight me with your full ability and determination"_

The green dot representing Fallen on Freedom's radar turned into red, telling Kira that the mobile suit in front of him was an enemy.

"_Because today I'm going to take you down" _Fallen slashed its beam sword at Freedom.

* * *

Barzhakov blinked his eyes, not believing what he saw. Fallen was attacking Freedom, looking as if wanting to annihilate it. 

"Sir!" The ORB enlistee called out.

"What!" Barzhakov barked, distracted.

"The IFF unit showed that Fallen is now an enemy"

Barzakhov groomed his moustache using his thumb and forefinger nervously. "An enemy, huh? Let me guess, she switched off every kind of communication with our ship?"

"Yes"

"This can be messy. Try to contact her again periodically"

Murrue's face came on screen. Instead of being on the bridge, her background indicated that she was somewhere on the ground. "WHAT'S THE MEANING OF THIS!" She demanded. "WHY IS YOUR MOBILE SUIT ATTACKING FREEDOM!"

Barzhakov looked at the screen depicting Fallen and Freedom's battle before glancing toward her. "I take it that the IFF on your ship showed that she's an enemy?"

"YES"

"I see. Then it makes sense. Fallen's pilot has a personal vendetta toward Freedom's. I'm sorry, but we're also surprised by the turn of event"

"CALL HER OFF"

"How? She cut off all communications with our ship"

"THEN WE WILL PROVIDE SUPPORT TO FREEDOM"

"You will do no such thing. If you aim even a single weapon toward Fallen…"

"I'M NOT AFRAID OF YOUR THREAT, _SIR_"

"I'm not the one who will stop you. Fallen will. Isn't the IFF warning is a clear message for you to stay away? Please don't interfere. I honestly think Freedom's pilot don't need more distractions in the fight"

"FINE, I'LL NOT INTERFERE, BUT YOU DO IT!"

"Sorry, but she warned us to stay away too" Barzhakov pressed the switch to cut Murrue off and seat on his chair. He put his fingertips together and sighed. "I never thought it will come to this. I know I shouldn't say it, but I always wonder what will happen if the two of them fight"

"All of us do, Captain," Sammy said.

"I just hope that there wouldn't be a loss of life, but now it seems like a wishful thinking," Barzhakov said.

* * *

1

* * *

**Author's note (1 January 2006)**

1) Well, Happy New Year! One of my new year resolution is to finish this story and wrap up all of it within this year. Failing which I will strive to update once a fortnight.

2) Some of you may grumble because of the cliff hangar in this chapter. But because the fight in Berlin was planned to be a long chapter, dividing it into three subsections will be hard without some cliffy. Actually, this chapter is supposed to have a more 'dramatic' cliffhangar, but I squashed it so that it wouldn't keep readers in limbo when I update it a bit late.

3) For some who wondered why Fllay was pretty cool and mature in previous chapters, I hope this chapter shows that this is not the case. Although I like her, I'm not making her become 'cool' just like that without a reason. Fllay in this story is a bit OC, but that's because she has to change after what she gone through.


	14. Freedom and Fallen

Freedom blocked Fallen's sword with one of its own. It then tried to slash back at Fallen's shoulder using another one, but Fallen quickly held Freedom's wrist, stopping it. Each one tried to overpower the other for a few moments before jumping back.

"_I already asked you fight me seriously"_

Kira muttered a soft curse and targeted Fallen's head with Freedom's two positron cannons. But Fallen engaged its boosters, seeming to know that its head was targeted. Then Fallen fired a few rounds at Freedom, making it fall back. But despite the setback, the ultimate Coordinator pilot didn't give up, as the targeting console in Freedom's cockpit goes up, he began targeting Fallen's head, shoulders and legs. After two seconds, five beeping tones told him that the targets have been acquired. He fired, wanting to end the fight as fast as he could.

Fallen moved so that its body was perpendicular to Freedom to minimize exposure and covered its head with its shield. _"Such tactic wouldn't work with me. You're too confident" _Its beam gattling fired again.

As sweats flowed out from his pores, Kira wondered how the pilot knew what he was thinking. He could still remember their previous fight, where she knew his bluff. "He quickly typed a response, _"Why must we fight? I don't want to fight you"_ Something told him that he's supposed to know the pilot very well.

A reply arrived as the computer was screaming for Kira to evade an attack. _"The Alliance brought me back to fight you"_

"What is she talking about!" _"Despite Alliance's intentions, your will and ambition belong to you and you only"_

Freedom shook from a kick to its torso. _"Even as you're spouting off such sweet sounding and idealistic words, you know nothing about Destroy's pilot. Tell me, Freedom pilot. Did you ask her whether she wanted to be killed by you?"_

Firing Freedom's two rifles while trying to trick Fallen into its bazookas' target area, Kira was amazed at its pilot's skills in evading the beams. Even though he managed to trick Fallen to fall into his trap, the mobile suit destroyed the bazooka shots easily using its swords. _"I had no choice"_

"_I acknowledge that. But you said that my will is my own. How about if I say that I fight you because of my own will?"_ Fallen aimed its gattling cannon at Freedom. Then from behind its back a burst of small red sparks appeared. A second later, an explosion took place, throwing Fallen off balance. Archangel had shot its Valiant cannons at it and Fallen has released its Starburst countermeasure to stop them. A field of small orbs glowing red appeared, causing the projectiles to explode as they came into contact with the field. However, the explosion threw Fallen off, causing it to lose its opportunity to shoot Freedom.

"Kira! Are you all right?" Murrue was back on the bridge. "We will give you covering fire"

"No! Don't do anything!"

His warning was too late as Archangel fired its Gottfried beam cannons. Fallen merely moved to the left and the shots passed through harmlessly. As if have had enough of Archangel's intrusion, it turned and rocketed toward the ship, ignoring Cagalli's Strike Rouge and other Murasames that were helping casualties. Kira engaged Freedom's own boosters to try to catch up with it. Little with little, it began to catch up with Fallen, with Kira firing to distract it. The gain was lost, however. The additional boosters Fallen was carrying behind it fired up, widening the gap between the two mobile suits.

Kira contacted Archangel. "Stop it! Stop firing at Fallen!"

Captain Murrue seemed a bit shaken, but there was no mistaking the resolve in her "We can't stand by and do nothing" She looked in other direction when Mirrilia's voice told her that Fallen was approaching the ship.

"But Captain!"

Archangel fired its Wombat missiles. The missiles flew toward Fallen. Because there were too many missiles targeting the mobile suit, Kira expected Fallen to move away in order to avoid them. Because of that, he was surprised when it opened its boosters and fly toward them at high speed. Only when Fallen had passed through all of them without any of them exploding did he realize what had happened. The proximity sensors on the missiles didn't react because it was too fast. Archangel's crew didn't give up. Firing more missiles as a diversion, the legendary legged ship aimed its Gottfried cannons and fired again, this time almost hitting Fallen's cockpit hadn't it blocked them.

Inside Freedom's cockpit, Kira was praying that he could make it on time. He knew that the black and blue mobile suit wasn't an easy prey. Helplessly, he watched as Fallen resumed its attack run, zigzagging to evade CIWS fire. Bit by bit, it became nearer to the ship. More missiles were launched and more cannons were fired, but it was in vain. The mobile suit became nearer and nearer, until it appeared just in front of the ship's main bridge and aimed its beam gattling pointblank at it.

Kira closed his eyes, not wanting to see what happened next. "NOOOOOOOOO!"

A tone caused Kira to open his eyes. Archangel was still there, with Fallen still aiming the gun at its bridge. Fallen nudged its gattling gun at the bridge threateningly while looking in Freedom's direction.

Murrue and everyone on the bridge were sweating in terror. The three barrels of death were looking at them in the eye. Then Kira came online. His face was very serious, with a tint of anger. "Captain Murrue"

"Yes?" she answered weakly.

"Please stop. Switch off all weapons"

"But Kira"

"JUST DO IT!" He shouted. Then he caught hold of himself. "Sorry, but you can see for yourself that the pilot wants to fight me" The main screen on Archangel showed that Fallen has moved away its weapon. "I can't fight properly unless I know that that all of you are safe"

"Very well" Captain Murrue looked down in disappointment as she and the others can't do anything to help Kira. "Set the weapons offline" she commanded Captain Amagi.

"Please promise me that you and Cagalli will not interfere whatever happens. If anything happen to all of you, I wouldn't forgive myself"

She nodded. "I will tell Cagalli"

He signed off.

"Captain," Mirrilia said from console. "Kira has changed the Freedom's IFF code to hostile status"

Murrue looked at Freedom and Fallen facing each other, weapons at ready. "We can't interfere in your fight, can we Kira?"

* * *

"_I already ask them to stand down"_

Fallen moved away from Archangel as a response. _"Very well. Let's continue"_

For the first time after the Second Jachin Due war, Kira let himself to be angry at his enemy. _"Why do you enjoy fighting so much!"_

"_Because I feel it's my destiny to meet you"_

"_If that's the case," _Kira typed using one hand as he used the other to aim Freedom's weapons at Fallen's cockpit. _"To fulfill my destiny, which is to protect Archangel and people I care about, I will kill you!"_ Freedom fired its rifle at the mobile suit in front of it.

Fallen evaded the shot by moving to the left, firing its gattling at the same time. Kira skillfully controlled his mobile suit to do the same.

They continued fighting, trading shots and when they get close enough, traded blows. It continued for a few minutes with no one getting an upper hand, as both pilots fought skillfully. The facts that both mobile suits were nuclear powered also contributed to the prolonged battle. There was one time where Freedom almost stabbed Fallen, but the black and blue mobile suit managed to block it with its shield at the last possible moment. There was also another time where Freedom was almost slashed into two but it fired its bazookas at Fallen, knocking it away. The fight continued on for quite some time.

Suddenly, Fallen changed its tactic and dove toward the ground. Kira aimed Freedom's beam rifle at Fallen. Suddenly, memory of a space shuttle pierced by a laser flooded his mind, causing him to pause for a fraction of a second before firing. As if guessing that it was being targeted, Fallen evaded and released three small objects. Wary of a trap, Kira didn't give chase and was surprised to see they burst, obscuring the view with countless red glowing spheres. He looked at his radar to see a large blob on it. Fallen used its Starburst to trick him into not following and at the same time to confuse his radar. _"Very clever"_, he decided. He decided to see what Fallen would do next.

The Freedom look alike took the opportunity to land on the ground. Its landing caused dust and ash to fly in the air. When everything settled, Kira discovered that it has disappeared from the view. Even radar didn't show anything. The still ongoing fires throughout Berlin also ensured that detection via heat sensors were impossible. Then he saw bursts of green beam traveling toward Freedom. He deftly maneuvered his mobile suit to avoid them and shot toward the direction the beam came. As a building crumbled from his bazookas' explosion, he saw nothing. He finally understood what Fallen's pilot was doing. Using the buildings as a cover, playing hide and seek with him while waiting for the chance to shoot. The tactic was a good one. Very well, he decided. He'll play this game with her. After all, he also has some experienced in such tactic. Freedom also landed.

Just as Freedom's feet touched the ground, he saw something small being lobbed at him. Instinctively he raised Freedom's rifle at shot it down, thinking it was a bomb. But the resulting explosion wasn't that big and from the screen, his enhanced eyes could make out shards of glass and a tire from the explosion. A car was thrown to distract him. But if that was the case, then Fallen will be attacking next. A warning tone caused him to look left. Fallen was in the air, firing.

* * *

Everyone, including Terrence watched the screen in awe as Freedom rolled on the ground, evading the attack and firing its rifles at Fallen at the same time, forcing the black and blue mobile suit to raise its shield to defend. Despite defending, Fallen still fired its weapon. Due to the weapon's recoil however, the aiming was slightly off. Freedom took the opportunity to jump away, landing behind a tall building. 

"Freedom's pilot is very good," someone commented. "He knows that normal beam weapons are quite ineffective against concrete, and used that to his advantage"

"Yeah, 'cept that our girl knows about that too"

"Makes me wonder why she was so hell bent on taking him down. Last time I saw a woman fight fiercely was when a friend of mine broke his husband's nose when she found out that his mass driver was deployed somewhere else"

Lim said, "Good analogy. But are you saying that Fllay and Freedom's pilot have some kind of a relationship, Jeff?"

"Nah. But then again…"

"WOW! Look at that!" someone shouted as a building nearly toppled on Fallen. It managed to avoid the falling contraption by jumping to the right. The move was good, as if it jumped away, it would have fallen into Freedom's trap. Freedom was waiting behind the building for the chance to attack Fallen when it gets airborne. A sword slashing toward the cockpit forced Freedom to move away, in search of another place to hide.

"See! Fllay's abilities match his"

"Yea, thanks to Terrence's Delimiter system to level the playing field. Too bad he himself can't use it as it makes him see the birdies"

Terrence's eyes became wide as the man's words sunk in. How could he have forgotten such an important detail? Fllay has engaged the system before the Murasames launched their missiles. That meant the system has been operating longer than what was deemed as safe. _"Was it the reason why she attacked Freedom?"_ he quickly moved toward the Delimiter console. The system could be shut down from the terminal. She would be very angry with him for doing that, but it was for her own good. He pressed the red button, expecting to system shutting down.

Nothing happened.

He pressed the button again and again. When the system gave no response, he finally noticed a small text message being displayed in a small screen at the corner of the terminal. The text told him that the Delimiter system was damaged. That probably explained what happened her. She must have been hallucinating. But he checked the system twice before Fallen took off. When did the system develop some errors? Terrence then remembered Fallen falling to the ground when X-1 Destroy was defeated. Maybe the impact damaged it. Terrence looked at the screen to see Fallen moving agilely among the ruins and then looked at the terminal in front of him. The text box was still showing that the Delimiter system was damaged.

* * *

Fallen was moving cautiously among the ruins of Berlin while searching for Freedom. It aimed its gattling gun at possible hiding spots. When it stopped for a moment to look around, the wreckage behind it moved and Freedom emerged from underneath it to attack Fallen with its two beam swords. Fallen, almost caught unaware, dropped its beam gattling and caught both Freedom's hands. In response, Freedom kicked, only to have Fallen block its leg and used to push Freedom back. Freedom jumped away, and at the same time fired all of its weapons toward Fallen. The black and blue mobile suit was barely able to retrieve its gun and jumped into the air before multiple beams and bazookas hit the spot where it was standing two second before. 

Inside Fallen, Fllay was hyperventilating, waiting for Freedom's next move. When Freedom began its next assault, she saw what was coming. To her, everything was happening in a painfully slow pace, giving her the chance to think of an effective counter move. This ability, along with her being able to predict what the other pilot was thinking gave her a distinct advantage over other pilots, including Coordinators.

Still mentally unstable after the psychic trauma she experienced from Destroy pilot's death and because of the hallucination caused by the Delimiter System, Fllay saw Freedom as a giant angel of death, an enemy she must defeat because it has caused her tremendous pain. The problem was that she somehow had some problems fighting it. Despite anger and rage overwhelming her thinking, she could feel a part of her was against fighting the evil angel. Maybe that's why she had spared the giant horse that belonged to the angel; she had somehow heard its voice asking her to stop. Upon remembering that, she momentarily suspended what she was doing, trying to control herself. Fighting seemed to be a wrong thing to do.

Her view blurred a bit as she suddenly felt tired and her consciousness slipped a bit. Why did she fight? she asked herself. Against whom? Even as her hands on the controls were moving as if they had minds of their own, Fllay became calm. She wondered whether she should stop the fight. Slowly, the evil angel in front of her began to dissolve and a familiar silhouette began to appear.

Suddenly Fallen's cockpit shook as the mobile suit reeled from Freedom's kick. As she was slammed against the pilot seat, Fllay could see multiple shots aimed at her. Fallen's computer in response to the threat quickly dispersed more Starburst energy chaff stop them. The evil angel has appeared once more. The enemy. Yes, she told herself. The angel must be stopped because it has caused her untold torment and grievous pain. So, the only way to stop them was to destroy it. Fury driving her once more, she maneuvered Fallen to back flip away before engaging its thrusters. As she guided it away from the pursuing enemy, only one thought remained in her mind. The angel must be eliminated.

* * *

1

* * *

**Author's note (11 January 2005)**

1. I would like to apologize for having another cliff hangar. Somehow, the third installment of Berlin's arc is longer than I expected, and I had to split the story into two. The first part is basically okay, with no major changes. I'm finishing and tweaking the final part, but I doubt that it will be ready in three days time, according to the chapter's schedule.


	15. Kira and Fllay

Terrence looked at the Fllay's brainwave readout. According to the data, there were massive beta and theta brainwave frequencies. That meant it was quite certain that Fllay was experiencing hallucinations. What worried him was the fact that the frequency of the beta wave was more than 40Hz, indicating that she was experiencing anxiety and stress as well. Although a little of both may help in piloting mobile suit, too much of them would hamper her own judgment.

But despite the gnawing worry, there was a sense of wonder in the Coordinator. Although Fllay wasn't really in control of herself, it was the first time the Delimiter system has been engaged for such a long duration. The tests being conducted back on the PLANTs revealed that the pilot would either pass out from the hallucinations or would be driven to suicidal tendencies, normally crashing the mobile suit. But those were tests and safety precautions were taken such as enabling the whole mobile suit to be controlled from far away.

He hoped that Fllay would come out of the ordeal alive, not letting herself to be consumed by the system or being killed by the Freedom ace. Suddenly, an idea came to Terrence. He contacted the bridge.

Sammy's face came online. "What is it?"

"Can you patched me with the Archangel?"

The woman's face could be seen frowning at the request. "I'm not sure they want to talk to us after nearly getting their heads blown off by Fallen, but I'll see what I can do" Sammy then signed off.

Twenty seconds later, Mirrilia appeared on the screen. "What do you want?" she asked warily.

"Tell Freedom that he shouldn't fight Fallen"

"Why not?" Mirrilia asked quietly.

"Because…" Terrence paused, not knowing whether he should reveal about Fllay's background. He decided on another explanation, one that wasn't far from the truth. "Fallen's pilot has been influenced to fight Freedom by its computer system"

Mirrilia's eyebrows knit, a sign that she didn't believe him. "So the computer can control the pilot?"

"No, but the computer could cause hallucination"

"So, it's the pilot's fault for falling prey to such system," Mirrilia said a bit brusquely. "I'm sorry, but Freedom cut off all communications with us"

"But. Fla…" Terence didn't finish the sentence when he saw that the screen turned black.

* * *

Looking around for Fallen, Kira saw a metal object protruding from a building in a distance. He magnified the view and recognized the object as a beam rifle's barrel. It seemed that Fallen was behind the building and was laying an ambush for him. Two can play the same game, he decided. Freedom moved closer and closer toward the building at slower pace, as if not realizing the trap. When it was a few meters in front of the building, Kira fired a spot next to the building. The shots would serve as a diversion. Meanwhile, Freedom jumped and executed a somersault. It twisted its body in the air so that when it got behind the building, all of its weapons could be fired at Fallen.

Just as Freedom got past the building, Kira was shocked to discover that the rifle was being held by a damaged BABI. _"Shit! I've been trapped"_ He had another flash and veered right, just in time. Fallen was targeting Freedom's exposed back with its beam gattling. Landing on the ground, Freedom quickly perform a roll. It came out of the roll firing its twin beam rifles, forcing Fallen to withdraw momentarily. Then Fallen rushed toward Freedom, sword in its right hand and the shield in front of its body. Freedom fired its bazookas at the ground in front of Fallen and used the distraction to escape

They have been fighting for a while, with neither gaining any advantage. They have changed their battle stage few times, from air to the ground and back to the air again. Kira wondered how Fallen's pilot could fight for a long time. Most normal pilots would have been exhausted by now; she barely slowed down. It was a good thing he could keep up with her. He knew that Fallen was nuclear powered, as even the most advanced battery powered mobile suits wouldn't last that long. As Freedom increased the thrusters on its left side so that it could moved its head away from an incoming beam, Kira wondered why she said that she was brought back to fight him. Did she come out of retirement just to fight him?

* * *

Talia watched the ensuing battle with an interest. Freedom and Fallen didn't belong to the same group after all. The battle dispelled her earlier doubts that Cherubim and Archangel were working together. The two ships had even moved away from each other.

Heine contacted Minerva and was patched through the screen. "What should we do, Captain? Should we take the opportunity to attack them?"

She shook her head. "It's to our advantage not intervene. There's no telling how they will react"

Heine nodded. "By the way, where's Shinn? I need his help over here"

The experienced captain looked at the radar. Her eyes widened when she saw where Impulse was. She quickly turned toward Meyrin, "TELL SHINN TO GET AWAY FROM THAT AREA NOW!"

* * *

Kira looked at the screens to his left, in front of him and to his right alternately, watching for any sign of movement. His caution was rewarded when he saw a mobile suit lunging toward Freedom at high speed from above. He thought it was Fallen; upon closer inspection it was Impulse. Impulse slashed its large sword recklessly and Freedom avoided it without much a problem. Not giving up, the ZAFT's mobile suit fired its chest CIWS at Freedom, but Freedom's phase armor rendered the shots harmless.

Although Kira didn't consider Impulse to be much of a threat, the more he fights with it, the more vulnerable he would be. Fallen would certainly take advantage of such opening unless he ended it quick. Freedom quickly brought out its twin beam swords and slashed upward; cutting down Impulse's both arms. Then, before the stunned Impulse's pilot could react, it quickly slashed horizontally, left sword cutting off Impulse head and right sword cutting down its legs. The limbless and headless mobile suit fell to the ground unceremoniously. Not even waiting for a moment, Freedom quickly left the spot. Kira figured out that since Fallen's pilot was after him, she would leave others alone.

His hunch was proven correct when Fallen suddenly appeared out of nowhere and chased after him, not giving Impulse any attention at all.

* * *

As the fight raged on, Fllay felt her strength kept dissipating. It was the first time she has fought using her forbidden ability for a very long duration and it began to show. She suppressed an urge to throw up, knowing that it was neither the time nor the place to be careless. If she even let down her guard, her enemy will end her life in an instant. But was it bad to die? And who was the enemy again? The evil angel who caused her to feel pain. A thought occurred to her. If she purposely let down her guard and let him kill her, wouldn't that spell the end of her torments? She became panicked as her surrounding began to change.

The buildings seemed to have doubled in size…

Then they began to crumble…

Why did everything around her except the angel disintegrated into dust?

She turned around and saw a giant ship with two giant oars that was in the horizon. The ship was quite near to the giant horse she nearly killed. Fllay smiled as she remembered that she somehow came from the ship. It seemed a good idea for her to return to it; she was tired of fighting the angel. In fact, she was tired of everything and wanted to rest.

"_What are you doing, Fllay my love?"_ a male voice behind her asked, seemingly curious.

"I'm a bit tired and wanted to rest a bit," she replied.

"_Are you sure?"_

"What do you mean?" Fllay asked back.

"_You're still in the middle of a fight to kill that monster"_

"But I'm very tired. I… could barely keep up with it. It's too strong"

"_But you're strong too. After all, you're my Fllay"_

She felt a pang in her heart. "I'm yours?"

"_Yes"_ Although the person who said it wasn't visible, it was as if he was smiling as he said that. _"Isn't that true, Fllay?"_

"Yes, it's true. In that case, permit me to retreat. I… I… promise that I will fight it after I have recovered"

"_That's unfair of you"_ There was a hint of disappointment and sarcasm in the voice. _"I was killed by that monster because you had asked me to fight for you, to become a killing machine in your name. I fought to protect you relentlessly"_ Images of Strike being destroyed by the angel played in her mind, paralyzing her thoughts with intense emotions.

She shook her head weakly. "I'm sorry about what happened. I really regretted it"

"_You lied to me,"_ the voice accused. _"You told me that you love me"_

"No. I didn't lie. I'm really in love with you!" she protested meekly.

"_I have done everything you asked me; I have killed against my own will, against my own people"_ Images of Strike fighting Blitz, Duel, Buster, Aegis and other ZAFT mobile suits bombarded her mind.

Fllay couldn't stop the leaking tears. "I know and I'm very sorry," she sobbed.

"_So many people have died under my bloodied hands. And I did it for you"_ Fllay saw the scene where she gave him an origami flower a child made for him after he has failed to save that child's shuttle from being shot by Duel while going reentry.

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize that the girl gave it to you"

"_Further more, you told me that you love me"_

"I… really love you"

Fllay felt his presence next to her _"Do you love me enough to fight for me?"_ Ki whispered.

She nodded slowly. "Yes. For you, I'll do whatever it takes"

"_Even if it involves throwing away your life?"_

"If you want me to" There wasn't even a trace of hesitation in her tired voice.

"_Then, avenge me and kill that angel now"_

She could see the creature in her view. "Yes"

"_Don't worry. I will help you in your fight"_

Phantom hands moved Fllay's own, causing her to slash at her enemy. The enemy evaded and brought out its twin swords and counterattacked.

"_Duck underneath. And then strike at its torso"_

Fllay did as she was told, just barely missing her target.

Then one of the hands Fllay's left hand to block an attack. _"Slash upward"_

* * *

"What the hell with this pilot!" Kira said disbelievingly as Freedom jumped away. "How could she know my attack?" It was like the time when they had their scuffle at Crete and the beginning of their fight. But somehow the attacks were becoming more and more dangerous, as if she was already predicting his next two steps. But that was impossible, wasn't it? Whatever it was, all he knew was that he mustn't lose. He engaged Freedom's thrusters to fly to the air to coax Fallen to follow suit. There, it would be easier for him to target his adversary.

Fallen follow suit and Kira took the opportunity to fire Freedom's beam at it. Even before the beam fully left the barrels Fallen has already moved away. He cursed softly. It was like fighting himself.

A thought entered his mind. Maybe the girl was something like himself, the so-called Ultimate Coordinator. Maybe that's why she could match his skills. Kira couldn't believe himself for having such thoughts. Since when he has thought of himself as unbeatable? He wasn't; he lost before to a Natural pilot in the Second Jachin Due battle. Although he has fought against many enemies since he was forced to come out of his seclusion, he was piloting a very powerful mobile suit. That gave him the advantage in previous fights. Even Athrun's Savior was weaker than his Freedom. Was that the reason he has somehow become conceited? No wonder his opponent asked him to fight her seriously.

It was the first time he has doubt on his own ability to win the fight. Winning the fight would be hard, but he would try his best. That was all he needed to do, if he wanted to come home safely.

* * *

"_Move to the right"_

"Yes" Fallen veered, missing the two green beams fired at it

"_It would be impossible to defeat him at this level"_

Fllay didn't say anything, merely nodding.

"_You know how important it is to me for you kill it"_

She just nodded once. Her eyes had already lost their shine.

"_Use your ability to the maximum. You must kill it. Kill it to prove that you love me as much as I love you Do you really love me?"_

"Yes. I love you very much"

"_Yet you don't deserve me because of what you did to me"_

"Yes. I don't deserve you"

His hands were on her shoulder as he whispers, _"Then, cast away your life to fulfill my request. Release your full potential against the monster that killed me"_

Fllay slowly moved her free hand. "Yes"

"_Don't worry about dying. If that happens, we can be together forever"_

"Forever"

"_For me"_

Fllay made a hand signal and she felt that as if her body was on fire as it was pushing itself to the limit. Blood began to trickle from her mouth as she bit her lips because of the pain she felt. "For you, everything"

* * *

It seemed impossible, but Fallen was even more aggressive than before. It took Kira all of his Coordinator capabilities and piloting skills to even keep up with it. The battle dragged on for another few minutes before finally, Kira got his chance and fired all of Freedom's weapons. One of Fallen's legs was destroyed by one of the beam shots. It moved nearer to Freedom. Kira fired again, and this time one beam managed to hit Fallen's left feet, destroying it. Meanwhile, Fallen has detached one of its long boosters. The single booster flew toward Freedom, like a giant missile. When it was close to Freedom, Fallen shot it and it exploded.

The shockwave threw Freedom backward, disorienting Kira. Before he could a chance to recover, the computer was warning him that something was approaching Freedom from the back. He turned to see that Fallen slashing at it. Without wasting any time, Kira quickly brought out Freedom's swords. Freedom blocked the attack and at the same time chopped off Fallen's remaining foot. He was wondering why Fallen's pilot was so reckless when something approaching from below. It was Fallen's remaining booster. It slammed into Freedom and exploded.

As Freedom spun from the explosion, Fallen gave chase to it, drawing two Armor Schneiders from its hips. Kira saw an opportunity to end the fight as Fallen's pilot became a bit careless with the move. He slashed Freedom's beam sword at Fallen's cockpit. But he jerked the control in the middle of the move; the mobile suit in front of him was suddenly replaced by an image of the red haired girl spreading her arms to hug him. _"Fllay"_. Then as instantly as it came, the illusion changed back into Fallen stabbing its Armor Schneider at Freedom's shoulder joints, exactly at the small openings between the arms and the torso. The joints were the few places that weren't protected by Shift Phase armor. Warning lights and siren were going off inside Freedom's cockpit as the computer was displaying information about Freedom's arms and thrusters were disabled by the knives. Freedom tried to kick Fallen, but it stabbed Freedom's leg joints, disabling the legs. Kira was shocked and could only watched as Fallen grabbed Freedom from the back and they crashed to the ground together.

The crash was supposed to kill anyone, even Coordinators. But Kira was only dazed. He shook his head, trying to get his bearing. It seemed that during the crash Fallen probably engaged its boosters, slowing down their descent. Once his view became clear, his eyes widened. Fallen was straddling Freedom, using its weight to prevent Freedom from moving. Its gattling was aimed at the cockpit.

An angry voice was audible in Kira's head. _"You lose, evil angel. I have finally got you. I will get revenge for him"_ The last sentence was said gleefully.

He didn't want to admit it but the pilot was right _"Yes. I lost"_

"_Any last words?" _The MPG-131's three barrels began to spin slowly.

Kira closed his eyes. It was the first time he has lost in the battle. Even the battle with Athrun ended in a stalemate. Lacus would be very sad to know of his death at the hand of an unknown pilot. Sighing, he switched off Freedom's nuclear generator, so that when Freedom was destroyed, there would not be any nuclear explosion. Outside, the famous mobile suit slowly turned to smoky grey as its Shift Phase armor powers down. Despite switching off the reactor, the cockpit still lit up, its power coming from emergency battery reserve. He looked at the image of the beam gattling aiming at his cockpit calmly. He can't explain why, but he felt safe and serene.

For Kira, the time seemed to slow down. His thought strayed to those who died during the first war and wondered whether there's afterlife after all. He hoped so. Maybe if it exists he can meet Tolle there. Then his thought wandered to the girl he once loved. No, he corrected himself. Despite caring for Lacus, he still loved her. Others derided her as a conceited manipulator, but to him, she was his savior, protecting him with her heart. He really wished for the afterlife to exist so he can meet her. Perhaps then she can tell him what she wanted to say at that day before they were separated.

A single thought occurred to him as he looked at the menacing mobile suit in front of him. Fallen and its pilot somehow evoked images of Fllay in him. A realization struck him. Now come to think of it, he felt exactly the same thing with the Fallen's pilot as with Fllay. He shook his head. She died in the first war; he saw it first hand. But while he kept denying it, a part of him keep confirming that it was Fllay. He tried to convince himself but it was futile. His heart told him that it was Fllay. Even the angry voice in his head sounded like her. Despite the impossibility of such thing happening, Kira accepted the fact Fllay piloted Fallen. Regret began to fill him as he realized that he almost killed her moments ago. "Fllay, I'm sorry," he breathed softly. He waited for the final shot that would end his life.

Nothing happened for a few seconds. Then he heard the mechanical sound of the gattling gun moving away and opened his eyes. Fallen was moving away slowly, as if afraid of something. The voice was there once more. _"I'm sorry" _Fallen began to turn to leave.

Kira raised one of his hands instinctively toward Fallen but the mobile suit flew away. He slumped against his seat, ignoring the visual showing Cagalli's Strike Rouge coming toward him. Taking off his helmet, Kira put a hand on his chest. The ache was still there after all those years and it somehow became more painful. "Fllay," he said as his vision blurred from unshed tears. "Fllay"

* * *

1

* * *

**Author's note (13 January 2004)**

1. Finally, I have managed to finish this chapter on schedule. I never thought this chapter will grow so large. But then again, I did tell earlier on that this battle in Berlin would be a milestone in a story. You can also treat it as a 'book 1' if you will.

2. The battle in Berlin seems too long, I'll admit that. Actualy, the way I picture it in my mind, it's slightly longer than usual battle in Crete. The reason it is long is because I intended it to be a battle between Freedom and Fallen, as well as each pilot's personal battle with him or herself.

3. The Delimiter seems dangerous, from what you can see. I intended it to be a double edge sword in the very beginning. Sure, the Zero System isn't as dangerous, but then I don't really understand how Zero works. To me, Zero only points out the enemies to the pilot.

4. This is the first time I show how Fllay used her 'SEEDS' ability to the maximum.

5. Now, if you wondered why I made Fllay win, please note that to me, Kira won. Sure, he got his face shoved with a beam gattling, but what if he didn't hesitate in in slashing Fallen's cockpit? While on the subject, I really thought hard about getting Fllay joining Archangel's crew, but if I do that, it will be hard for me to upgrade Fallen (or replace it all together as Kira messed it up quite good). Also, imagine Impulse versus Freedom and Fallen. Can you imagine what happen to poor Shinn? Reluctantly, I had to replace that part. But, as promised, Kira knew about Fllay, so this battle is the first and the last one between them.

6. Regarding point no 5, after this chapter, inevitably, there will be less Fllay and Kira interaction as I'm going to focus on the whole Gundam Seed Destiny. Please bear with me as I want to get the overall story right. I want to cover more on why Athrun fled from ZAFT, how Gilbert thought of Destiny Plan and some other points. I haven't thought about how but Archangel and Cherubim will eventually join forces. When that comes, it will be the best time for Kira and Fllay to meet. I already thought of a possible scenario.

7. Writing this Berlin arc really exhausted my creative energy. I'll probably update in February.


	16. Repercussion

"Sir, Fallen is returning to the ship"

"Tell the mechanics to prepare for emergency landing," Barzhakov ordered. "Meanwhile, inform the Murasames under our control to provide protection while Archangel retrieves Freedom. I guess that it's the least we can do after what happened. When Freedom is safely aboard Archangel, we'll retreat. We can't stay any longer with ZAFT forces probably moving toward this area. If they want to stay with Archangel, they may" He turned toward Enishi was commanding the CIC panel. "Is it okay with you?"

"Yes"

"But I don't think Archangel have any capacity for them. It's probably carrying the maximum amount it can right now" He turned toward a crew member. "Can you keep an eye on Minerva? I don't think it will do anything out of ordinary, but we can't be too complacent"

"Yes, sir"

"Also, tell me the status of the land battleship belonging to the Alliance"

"It's being attacked by Gaia"

"I see"

Enishi stood from his console. "Can I ask a question, Captain?"

Barzhakov looked at him. "Go ahead and ask all of the questions you want to ask. I can see them in your eyes. But before that, let me make one thing clear. I don't know why the girl fought Freedom"

Enishi nodded as Barzhakov already answered some of his questions. "So what do we do now?"

Cherubim's captain absentmindedly put an empty pipe into his mouth. He always smokes his pipe whenever he feeling depressed or doing some thinking. But when he entered the room, he had his tobacco confiscated.

"Captain?"

Realizing what he did and how foolish he looked, he put it away. "Well, basically, now the Alliance know our involvement and they will probably be hunting us"

"How about ORB? Maybe we can go there"

"No offence, but with the girly looking Supreme Commander leading your country, I don't think so. Half the crew will rather go on a suicide mission to attack Djibril at his headquarters rather than subjecting themselves under his control. After all, ORB is still with the Alliance. As for ZAFT…"

"Sir", someone called. "Minerva is trying to contact us using the coded channel we used at Crete"

"Speaking of the devil… Okay, patch her through"

Minerva's Captain appeared on the screen. "I'M CAPTAIN THALIA GLADYS OF MINERVA.

"Barzhakov of Cherubim. Nice to meet you"

"I DIDN'T EXPECT THAT YOU'LL BE WILLING TO SHOW YOURSELF"

"I'm not THAT ugly. So, how can I help you?"

"DURING THE PREVIOUS BATTLE THE SITUATION WAS TOO CHAOTIC FOR ME CONTACT YOU FOR A DISCUSSION"

Barzhakov looked at a screen showing smoke coming out of burning buildings. Another one showed survivors crying over the lost of their loved one. He changed the screens to see alternate scenes of destruction caused by Destroy. "Well, now is a peaceful and auspicious time to do it"

Talia's eyes twitched, showing that she knew the veiled sarcasm but she didn't say anything about it. "OUR CHAIRMAN HAS COME TO KNOW ABOUT YOUR ACHIEVEMENTS"

"We were doing our part. So what does the Chairman want with us?"

"WE WOULD LIKE TO INVITE CHERUBIM AND ITS CREW TO JOIN US"

"_Actually ZAFT only want this ship and Fallen,"_ Barzhakov thought to himself _"But, we'll see how this negotiation goes"_. "As you said that day, we're mercenaries. What makes you think we will join you? I don't see Serpent's Tail on any ZAFT division"

Although there was anger in Talia's eyes, her voice was still even. "ZAFT WILL BE OFFERING A VERY HANDSOME PAYMENT FOR YOUR SERVICE AND LOYALTY"

"Oh" Barzhakov smiled. At least the ZAFT's higher-ups went straight to the point. "I understand, but deciding which side to join is an uneasy thing to do. I have sleepless night just thinking about it"

Talia gave an insincere smile as she realized what he was hinting. "IT HAS COME TO OUR KNOWLEDGE THAT THE ALLIANCE'S REWARD FOR DESTROYING YOU IS QUITE 'SUBSTANTIAL'. I DON'T THINK THEY'LL BE IN A HURRY TO WELCOME YOU"

"You're right, but that's because we're not under their payroll. I believe ZAFT will take similar stance regarding us if we don't submit to you, right? Very well, suppose we join your forces and go to, say, Gibraltar. How can we be sure that ZAFT will not capture us? Like I told you earlier, I trust your words as a captain of Minerva. But this matter is above your station, right?"

Minerva's captain thought about his reply and nodded. Her face relaxed slightly. "YOU HAVE A POINT THERE. I CAN'T GUARANTEE THAT. BUT THE DECISION IS UP TO YOU. WE WILL BE SENDING SOMETHING THAT OF INTEREST AS A TOKEN OF GRATITUDE FOR YOUR EXCELLENT WORK IN STOPPING THE ALLIANCE'S MOBILE SUIT. AS FOR OUR OFFER, I HOPE YOU WILL CONSIDER IT AND MAKE A PRUDENT DECISION"

"I will certainly do that. Thank you for your generous offer and gift"

Captain Talia's disappeared from the screen as Barzhakov pressed a button and was replaced with Terrence's image. "Terrence"

"Yes?"

"Minerva is sending a gift for us. Can you arrange for the Butrous's Windam to pick it up outside the ship, just in case?"

"Understand. Whose birthday is it?"

"Don't know. But it's from your best friend Dullindal"

Terrence frowned. "In that case I will prepare the tracking device detector as well"

"Do that"

Barzhakov turned toward another direction. "Are they returning?"

"Yes"

"We will leave as soon as they land" He turned to Enishi. "As I was going to say just now, ZAFT will want to engage our service. But we're not going to join them. Maybe we can accept missions that we feel are suitable for us"

Enishi was about to ask another question when he noted that the other man was eyeing Fallen's return to the ship with an unreadable expression.

* * *

Terrence waited nervously as Fallen began its emergency landing approach. Despite the restraining net being erected to prevent the mobile suit from crashing into the hangar, he's quite uneasy since it was the first time he was involved with such emergency. To make the things worse, the Delimiter System has been switched on for quite a while now. There was no telling in what state Fllay was in. He hoped that she was all right. As for Fallen, he mentally shook his head. Freedom has inflicted many damages on Fallen. Terrence needed a lot of spare parts, most of them could only be acquired from ZAFT in order to repair it.

Fallen entered the launch pad at a speed not safe for landing. The mobile suit's gunmetal body was marred by a small fire at its leg, with smoke bellowing from damaged areas. To have Shift Phase armor turned off before landing meant that something was wrong with either the compact nuclear generator or the control system. Terrence hoped it was the later, as despite the generator having more failsafe measures built-in, there were still risks of either a nuclear explosion or contamination. "Activate the catching net!" he ordered.

The net sprung up just as Fallen crashed into the steel floor. As it screeches across the landing runaway, one of its hands caught fire from the sparks it made. More and more parts of the Cherubim's mobile suit become engulfed in flame. It was finally stopped by the restraining net. Terrence was about to order for the hangar door to be opened when a small explosion rocked the whole area. The fire has somehow reached Fallen's auxiliary propulsion system, igniting the remaining fuel there.

Barzhakov came on the hangar's main screen just as the extinguishing system kicked into action and sprayed Fallen with foams. "WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED!"

"We're busy right now, old fart," one of the technicians said as he switched off the communication system. "Terrence, lower the door. Razak, Lower that net! Albert and Simon, prepare the fire foams. Rick, get that stretcher ready!"

As the fire was extinguished, Terrence and a few personnel ran toward Fallen. Ignoring the charred remains of its limb, they quickly made their way to the cockpit and forced the door open. Two men took the unconscious pilot out of her mobile suit and put her on the floor. Terrence then quickly opened her helmet. Her face was slick from perspiration and there was dried up blood around her mouth. There were also fresh wet trails coming from her closed eyes indicating that she had just cried. She was still breathing, albeit raggedly. He looked at her unconscious form and shook his head. "Fllay, what happened to you?" he said softly. He turned toward other technicians. "DAMMIT! GET THE GODDAMN STRETCHER HERE QUICKLY!"

Someone gave him a wet rag and he wiped her face, before putting it on her head. It was the first time he saw her in that state and it scared him. Terrence silently prayed that the girl would be okay. He couldn't bear the thought of her dying because of his fault.

* * *

As snow continued to falling on a barren field, a young man was standing next to a hole he has dug. He was carrying a dead body, cooing to it softly, as if the body was still alive. He then slowly lowered the body into the hole.

"Stellar… they say that daffodils will bloom here in the spring," Shinn said as he wiped some snow of her face.

He smiled a little as he remembered their first encounter. She was dancing on a cliff when she felt into the sea. He had to jump in and saved her as she couldn't swim. Afterwards, they spend some time together while waiting for Minerva to send some help. They didn't communicate much, but the few words spoken have formed some sort of a relationship between the two of them. "I know you will be happy here, Stellar"

Shinn grabbed some gravel with his fist and began covering the grave Stellar was in. "You will be surrounded by beautiful flowers. You like daffodils, don't you?"

"People say when they bloom, this place will look like a giant yellow carpet" He smiled again. "It will be pretty, just like your hair, right Stellar?"

"In the spring, you can dance here to your heart's content. There's no sea for you to fall into, so don't worry"

He continued pouring more and more gravel into the hole. "Here, there will be nothing scary that will disturb you. I guarantee you that"

"Nothing scary will ever harm you. Ever" He took another fistful of earth.

"I promise you"

"Don't forget about me, okay? You're always mentioning Neo. It makes me a bit jealous"

"Ah, you're frowning? Sorry, I'm just joking"

Ignoring the snow and the frost biting temperature, he worked mechanically to cover the grave, whispering and saying soothing words to the dead girl. After working non stop for half an hour, he finally stopped, fresh earth mound covering the place where the girl Shinn liked was resting. As if he has finally snapped into reality, Shinn broke down and sobbed uncontrollably.

"WHY!" He smashed his fists on Stellar's grave.

"Why must this happen!" Tears dropped on some spots, melting the snow there.

"It's not supposed to happen this way"

"FORGIVE ME STELLAR!" Shinn wailed heavenward as his words echoed throughout the whole area. Tears stills flowing freely on his face, he hugged himself. "Forgive me for not keeping my promise"

Shinn continued crying on his hands and feet and remained in that way a long while. When he finally raised his head, it was full of hatred and animosity. "Stellar," he whispered, "I vow that I'll avenge your death. I'll make sure that I'll send the bastard the killed you to hell"

* * *

Barzhakov sat on the chair next to the bed, looking at an unconscious Fllay. The red haired girl was breathing slowly, aided by an oxygen mask. Nearby, a female doctor was looking at various medical equipments connected to her, jotting down something on her tablet computer. "How is her condition, Dorothy?"

"Ever since she was admitted, she's been having high fever. I'm not sure what's wrong with her. Of course, there is the slight possibility of her being exposed to high-G conditions, but I don't think so. According to our resident mad genius Terry, she did come out of her comma for a moment yesterday, rattling off a few names. One of them, I think you know. Ramius"

"Murrue Ramius," Barzhakov filled. "So Terrence visited her?"

"Few times, along with the hangar crew. In fact, they were here few minutes ago to check on her condition"

"In your personal opinion, what's wrong with her?"

"Well…" the doctor said, thinking, "in medical profession, we shouldn't base diagnosis on a hunch, but I think it has to do with her past training"

"Why do you mean?"

"When she was brought in, I did some checkup," she said while waving a file folder. "According to the results, it seemed as if she has been doing some strenuous activity for more than 20 hours non stop"

"As if she was in a labor"

"That's the closest analogy to this phenomenon, but actually, it is worse. She's suffering from high cortisol level, deterioration of body muscles and tissues and hemorrhaging. If she was in the condition for a few minutes more, she would have died"

"I see" Barzhakov looked at Fllay. "Is she all right now?"

"The answer's a bit subjective, but if you're asking me whether she will recover, then yes, she will. For a Natural, she's showing unbelievable recovery rate, even more than a Coordinator"

"I'm relieved to hear that"

Dorothy looked at him quietly before asking, "You know about it from the beginning, do you?"

"Yes. She told me about her ability being able to perceive and react faster than even a Coordinator but it comes with a severe percussion. I only know about what it is when you told me"

"So, what now?"

"Nothing changes"

Dorothy seethed. "Nothing changes, is it?" She smiled dangerously. "To be making such a retarded comment… How easy for you to say that…" Without warning, she slammed the folder on her table, shouting, "What the hell are you saying, Barzhakov! Has this war robbed you of your humanity?"

Barzhakov let out a heartfelt sigh. "I had already tried to stop her; she was so adamant to keep fighting. Maybe you're suggesting that I don't let her pilot Fallen. I already thought about that. But if we deny her that, then she may break apart" He put his hand on the file, keeping it closed when Dorothy tried to open it. The gesture was not lost to her. "You have to admit that she has saved this ship numerous times"

"I know," she said emotionally, "but Fllay is just a young girl. She's not supposed to be subjected to this harsh condition. Fllay is supposed hang out in a mall, having great times with her friends, not blasting away mobile suits"

"But this harsh condition you mention is the reality everyone, including her is facing. The reality of that we're in the middle of a war"

"But…"

"Look, Dorothy. I have never forced or coerced her to go to combat. I always let her decide. Every time. I can assure you that I would never change this, but as Cherubim's captain, as long as Fllay is helping to protect everyone onboard, I will not stop her. Please consider this fact"

The doctor in front of him looked away in disappointment. "I… I understand"

"Now, the only thing we can do now is support and help her" He looked at the file again "Despite what you feel, you know what you should do" Barzhakov then looked at Fllay's unconscious form.

The female doctor noticed that the look he gave was not unlike the look a concerned father would give to his sick daughter.

* * *

"Hey Kira. What's up? How's our captured Earth Alliance officer?"

The Freedom's pilot turned toward the feminine voice to see his sister walking toward him. He turned back to continue watching Mirrilia consoling Murrue. Beside him, Murdoch was also watching, arms crossed. "According to medical data that we have, the man we picked up is Mwu La Flaga"

"That's impossible!" Cagalli said. "Isn't he's supposed to be, you know…"

Kira nodded. "We're not sure how it can turn out this way, but he's Flaga. I'm sure of it" He thought about the strange sensation he felt whenever the Earth Alliance colonel was present.

Murdoch nodded, "But it seems he lost his memories"

Kira shook his head. "It's not like he lost his memory, but rather he have a different one. Otherwise, I don't think he would have joined the Earth Alliance. I pity Murrue. It must have hurt her so much to find out that he didn't remember her at all"

The three of them watches as Mirrilia led Murrue away. Cagalli fisted her hands. "How could they do such things? How can they be so inhumane?"

"I personally can't stand what they are doing," Murdoch commented

"They're conducting many experiments on people so that they can produce pilots to match Coordinators," Kira said, narrowing his eyes. "The pilot controlling Destroy is a product of such experiments"

"How do you know, Kira?" Cagalli asked.

"I was told"

"By whom? The pilot that tried to kill you? How could she know? Maybe she is another one of them"

Kira opened his mouth but closed it again, not sure of what to say.

"But you have to admit, whoever she is, she's one hell'uva a pilot," Murdoch commented.

Cagalli looked at him. "What do you mean?"

"Well, if the pilot's really wanted to kill your brother, she could have poke a hole in his body wherever she wants"

"I don't understand," Cagalli said.

"When we checked Freedom, we saw only very limited damage in the parts she stabbed. Funny thing is, the wires that were severed are those carrying information to and from other parts such as legs and arms. The others wires and components are barely damaged"

"Ah, who cares about whether she knows or now. All we need to know is that she's crazy and our enemy" Cagalli said. "If only I wasn't held up by our pilots who were with that ship; I would have helped you, Kira"

Kira sighed. "You saw what happened when this ship tried to help me. If you came to help me, I would have asked you to stay away. By force, if necessary"

"Why?"

"It's more important to get you back to ORB safely" The brown haired ace looked down. "It all works out for the best, anyway. If either one of you lost your life, I can't forgive myself"

"WHAT! YOU CARE FOR THE BITCH WHO ALMOST KILLED YOU!" Cagalli shouted.

Kira looked at Murdoch as the mechanic took it as a sign to leave the two of them alone. "Yes. I do"

"But she nearly killed me, and as you said earlier that she almost destroyed this ship"

"She never intended to kill you in the first place. If she had, you would have died the first time we met her"

"How could you defend that… that bitch?"

"Because… the so-called bitch is my bitch" Kira said bitterly and defensively. "And please, don't call her that"

His sister put her hands on his shoulder and shook him gently. "Get a grip on yourself, Kira. She's our enemy"

"No, she's not. In fact, I'm her enemy and what had happened is my fault"

Cagalli couldn't believe what she heard. "How could you take the blame for her? She was trying to kill you, for god's sake"

"If she wants to kill me, then I have no objection to it. I did deserve it after all"

"Kira…"

"During the battle, I could feel her pain and anguish, Cagalli. I can also feel that I'm the source for that pain"

"But…"

"Please, Cagalli. The next time we meet, stay out of it. It's between me and her"

Cagalli looked down, not wanting her brother to see her concern for him. "I understand"

"Thank you"

* * *

**1**

**

* * *

**

**Author's note (6 February 2006)**

1) Now, to answer some of you who asked what I'm going to do regarding Fallen, well, I'm not sure. I know I did say that I'll upgrade the mobile suit, but now I'm also opening up the possibility of it being replaced totally. To be sure, even if I'm just upgrading it, it wouldn't be as simple as snapping new weaponry on. The upgrade I had in mind when I mention it in my previous statement was a major overhaul of Fallen. If I'm upgrading it, it'll be like 'Strike Freedom' or 'Infinite Justice' kind of upgrade. But seeing people keep referring Strike Freedom as Freedom in GSD, I suppose even if I add some suffix or prefix to the name, the characters will refer it as Fallen. If I'm replacing Fallen, it will be a new mobile suit, with a different name.

2) A good point was being made about Fllay knowing and predicting how Kira fights. Yes, it was her who knows about it, not the Delimiter System. In martial arts, it is said that a master will know his opponent's fighting tactics and techniques. A martial artist will have a unique fighting style. So, if you know your opponent likes to kick, it would be possible to predict his attack just by watching his legs.

3) "Why not the dropping into the lake scene?" some of you may ask. Well, Impulse got slashed and became limbless, so no lake scene. As it is, although the lake scene is very poignant (I really like it), that scene has to go.


	17. The cause of the war

"Shinn, what are you doing?" Rey asked as he peered through Shinn's shoulder.

"Combat analysis"

Rey observed how Shinn was watching Freedom's footages diligently. "You want to be as good as Freedom's pilot?"

"Good my foot. I just want to kick his ass"

The blonde pilot raised his eyebrows "Why?"

"Because he's strong, and I can't stand him"

Shinn couldn't see a small smile forming on Rey's lip. "It can be a problem to ZAFT if we have to go against him"

"Yeah"

"So we should at least make some preparation in case that happens. I'll help you"

"Really?"

Rey typed some commands on the keyboard, and the screen showed some more footages. "Freedom is powerful, and in the hands of its pilot, virtually unstoppable. The only time it lost is to its counterpart in Berlin. I don't think you can match the pilot's skills yet"

Shinn crossed his arms in annoyance. He remembered very what happened to him in Berlin. Not only Freedom killed Stellar; it has humiliated him like it humiliated the so-called ace Athrun.

"However, I see a tendency by the pilot to disfigure and disable hostile mobile suits without killing their pilots," Rey said as he put a hand on Shinn's shoulder. "Now, knowing that fact, can you think of a way to use it to your advantage?"

The man in front of him had a feral smile on his lips. "It seems that I do"

* * *

Athrun sat on platform overlooking the mobile suit hanger, looking at his damaged mobile suit. Having talked to the mechanics in charge of repairing it, he was informed that nothing could be done to repair it. Savior was totaled. Without Savior, he felt helpless, as he couldn't do anything. As a trained soldier, Athrun hated such feeling. He watched as Heine was talking to some technicians. Gaia was given to Heine, albeit unofficially. So that only left him, Rey and Lunamaria without any mobile suits. To add to his list of worries, he found out that Shinn, with Rey's help was actively training to defeat Kira. When Athrun found out about it, he confronted the two, but was told that Freedom, with no allegiance to ZAFT can be considered a threat and thus training was necessary to defeat its pilot if the time came to do so. 

"So here you are, Athrun"

"Lunamaria"

The girl smiled and murmured softly something Athrun could make out as a comment about how lucky she was with her sister being on duty. "So what are you doing here? Is there's something wrong?"

"No"

"Shinn is doing as he pleases, isn't he?"

He turned toward her.

"I guess that's because he was let off scot-free over the whole incident with the Extended that day. But still… it's annoying when he's acting almighty just because he's supposed to be a super-ace"

"You don't seem to be satisfied with that" Lunamaria turned toward Athrun when he said that. "Do you want me to do something, or ask Captain Talia to reprimand him?"

"Not, that's not it!" It was Athrun's turn to look at Lunamaria. "I want you to try your best, Athrun. Show us your abilities. Maybe then Shinn will be less cocky and listen to you"

"Lunamaria"

"You're too kind" She smiled sheepishly. "Although I like that part regarding you, it causes you to lose out"

"Lose out?"

"You have the power and the authority. You should be more stringent and use them"

Athrun narrowed his eyes, remembering very well the events that lead him to rejoin ZAFT. How could he forget the feeling when he watched helplessly as Girty Lue attacked Minerva, or knowing that Earth Alliance had launched nuclear missiles on PLANT. But although he wanted the power and the strength, he couldn't flaunt it as he pleases as they come with heavy responsibilities.

"Athrun?"

"Oh, I'm sorry" He was about to continue when Gilbert's voice echoed through the loudspeakers.

"AND THE REASON WHY THE WAR DOESN'T END…"

It must have been important for the Chairman of PLANT would make such a broadcast. The two of them quickly ran to the lounge area to see what was happening.

* * *

Terrence looked at the blackened mobile suit in front of him and sighed. Fllay has managed to turn the Gamma module that he and his people worked so hard to build into scrap metal. He had to haggle for more than two hours with those Junk Guild cutthroats for the boosters and other components. He and his people worked more than 20 days to build the state of the art module. In the end, she destroyed them in less than twenty minutes! Yes, he did tell her that he would rather have his creation destroyed on a battlefield, but not in a haphazard manner. If it wasn't for the fact that Fllay was injured and still unconscious, she would have gotten an earful from him for making everyone on the ship worry when she suddenly attacked Freedom. Furthermore, nagging her would help alleviate some of the guilt he felt; although he was worried about her, he was happy that she has pushed his creation's abilities to the limit. 

But when he thought about the fate of Fallen, his greatest masterpiece, he shook his head. Freedom has inflicted many damages on the mobile suit. Terrence needed a lot of spare parts, most of them could only be acquired from ZAFT in order to repair it. Although he could ask his friends in ZAFT and they may be willing to help, he decided not to. Doing so was out of question because ZAFT may find out about the mobile suit was damaged and there would be no telling what it would do.

That left him no choice but to go to that infernal Junk Guilds and face those blood sucking traders again.

Deciding to put the matter aside for the time being, he walked to an equipment table. There was a strange looking device on it. Terrence put a hand on it and caressed it.

"Is that what I think it is?"

Terrence turned to see Vince and two ORB pilots were looking at the device. "Yes, it's the Delimiter device"

"So you're going to destroy it?" Vince's colleague asked.

"Not sure… yet"

"Why? Is it because you're the one who created it?" another pilot asked.

"No"

"You saw how it messed up her mind" Vince said. "Because of it, she's in a comma right now"

Terrence nodded. "I know, but it's not simple. In fact, it was Fllay who asked me not to remove it in the first place"

"Why would she do that?" Vince asked.

"The answer is quite obvious. We needed it" Terrence smiled at the device "Do you want to know something? This is one of the few devices that couldn't be operated by a Coordinator. Well, at least not as effective as a Natural. It's an irony, as it was developed by ZAFT for use in Coordinators mobile suit. Maybe you're wondering why it's unsuitable for Coordinators"

The three pilots in front of nodded.

"Coordinators, supposedly the next step in the human evolution are capable of doing many things simultaneously and efficiently. I don't know whether the two of you are Coordinators, but I do know Vince is one. So, it goes without saying that he could hold different thoughts simultaneously while flying his mobile suit, right?"

"Right," Vince agreed.

"Unfortunately, this ability is what makes Delimiter very dangerous to a Coordinator pilot. It amplifies the pilot's thought. Imagine what happened if the pilot thinks about three things at the same time"

"He will be overwhelmed by his own thoughts," the first pilot said. "But you said that it's also dangerous for a Natural to use it for an extended time. In that case, the Fallen's pilot also had similar problem with the system"

"No," Terrence disagreed. "She was drowned in it. The black box revealed that she had some connections with Destroy and Freedom's pilots"

"But, although it sounds educating, you still have to decide what to do with the system," Vince said. "Are you going to destroy it, or are you willing to risk the same thing happen again?"

Terrence closed his eyes. "That's a very tough call"

* * *

Athrun stood on the newly repaired observation deck, thinking about the previous event. To be honest, he was shocked as much as everybody with chairman of PLANT's speech. LOGOS, the Merchant of Deaths. The invisible force that was responsible for all wars that took place. The people behind Blue Cosmos who abhorred Coordinators whose DNA have been altered artificially. The conglomerate that promoted wars to fill its coffers with wealth that has been generated from other peoples' pain and misery. The real enemy that everyone must fight. _"Is it that simple? Just fight them and the wars will stop?" _ He wondered whether it would be that simple. 

The fact was that the LOGOS was not behind the attack on Lacus. That itself is a big puzzle. Kira himself said that he would gladly side with ZAFT if it can be proven that it wasn't ZAFT who did it. But proving it would be hard. He had received an answer from his hacker friend. The answer wasn't that encouraging. The mobile suits ASH that attacked Kira and the others haven't been commissioned yet at that time. That meant the attack was well planned, probably by a powerful figure or group inside ZAFT. But his friend reminded him that ZAFT military wasn't integrated tightly as Earth Alliance's. So, even PLANT's council members may have access to his or her own military group. Athrun knew about that fact very well. After all, he belonged to such independent groups before.

Athrun hated that possibility; he even hated the notion that perhaps Chairman Gilbert was involved. But it was hard to believe that the man who advocate peace so much to be doing something as dastardly as that. After all, didn't the televised broadcast just now showed Archangel and Freedom in a positive light? That was enough to show the Chairman's sincerity to them, despite what they had done. The more he thought about it, the more he became confused over his friends' suspicions regarding the soft spoken Chairman.

He looked at the disc that held his friend's reply. Whatever the result of his friend's investigation, it wouldn't be good, no matter whether the attackers belong to ZAFT or groups similar to Junius Seven incident's perpetrators. Even if there was a very slim chance that they belonged to Earth Alliance, it would also be bad news because that meant there was a major loophole in ZAFT's security structure. Athrun felt pressured because there was no way for him to tell anyone on Minerva what he was doing. At that moment, he felt lonely and isolated.

Meyrin stood near the door to the observation deck, watching at him in silence. Ever since Athrun returned to the ship as a member of FAITH, she was intrigued by him. What did he witnessed during the Second Jachin Due battle? What made him leave ZAFT despite being recognized as a hero? Why did he take up a new name? What was the connection between him and Representative Attha of ORB? What made Athrun don back ZAFT's uniform?

She had just finished her shift and was returning to her room when she bumped into Heine. He had mentioned about Athrun probably feeling lonely and someone should cheer him up. At first, she was reluctant to do so as she was tired, but then he remarked that she should tell Lunamaria about that. Maybe people will think that she's jealous; she wouldn't admit it although she was envious of her sister who seemed to excel in everything. Yes, as a sibling, she was proud of her sister, but sometimes, it's good to have some rivalry, especially when the prize was good looking. Meyrin giggled silently when she thought about that. Athrun wouldn't appreciate being treated as a trophy to be won.

Although she came to the observation deck to talk to him, she had last minute panic attack and couldn't approach him. All she could do was to observe him standing at the deck, looking at the horizon, deep in though. As an information expert though, she found the object being held by Athrun a bit fascinating. Why would he be carrying memory disc around? Maybe it contains pictures of Lacus, just like Heine said. But to be carrying something like that wherever he goes; that seemed a bit odd. If it was true that the memory disc contains pictures and songs of Lacus, it's not that important to carry around as many people onboard Minerva were fans of her and has similar collections. Then a thought occurred to Meyrin and she turned beet red. Maybe… they have… done it? Then… the memory disc may contain… Not wanting to think about it anymore, she silently left the place, breaking into a run when she felt that she was far enough.

Athrun looked toward the door. He felt as if there was someone there a moment ago.

* * *

Gilbert watched the video of the battle between Freedom and Fallen with great interest. He was very interested on their fight. Perhaps Fallen's pilot held a grudge against Kira Yamato. In that case, it would be an advantage to him. Maybe if he has some more information on the pilot beside the gender. A button pressed and a footage of the pilot appeared, recorded by Rey's Zaku Phantom's black box. The pilot's face was not that visible as her helmet was heavily tinted. Gilbert's eyes became wide as he realized why he couldn't see her face. It has been demonstrated to him once, before Fallen went missing. He quickly ran through the battle between Freedom and Fallen at Berlin. He narrowed his eyes on the back unit Fallen was carrying on its back and then smiled. 

The chairman of PLANT then switched the display to reveal one of the mobile suits ZAFT was developing, the unit known as Legend. Then he compared both units side by side, paying more attention at their equipments. After he was through with them, he leaned on his seat and put his finger tips together, thinking deeply. He then turned toward the crystal chessboard he liked so much.

Remembering something, he tapped on the computer's keyboard and Terrence's profile was displayed. He quickly searched for Terrence's piloting skill's stats and was disappointed with what he found. The inventor was a mediocre pilot at best. He stood out and made a move on the chessboard. The pawn must be moved in order to ensure victory. He looked at the screen. Then he changed it to show Cherubim, a ship that looked like a bigger version of Alliance's Nelson-class battleship with parts that similar to Archangel.

Despite being gifted with a very sharp analytical and intelligent mind, Gilbert Dullindal couldn't explain how Terrence Shauzer managed to get involved with the group; nor can he explain how the man managed to assemble a module as advanced than the one ZAFT is finishing. But it didn't matter. He would find a way to enlist the latter's help. And the 'extra' gift he has provided could be the key.

A command being entered and his earlier broadcast displayed on the screen. He wasn't interested in watching his own speed; rather he was looking at the two renegade Alliance ships as they assisted in the destruction of the giant Destroy. Despite his advisors' suggestion to cut off the parts where Freedom and Archangel were present, he didn't agree. He told them that the ship and the mobile suit and the ship deserve the credit despite their earlier intrusion.

But that wasn't the real reason why he rejected the suggestion. Gilbert was still hoping that the troublesome Archangel and Freedom would side with him. But even if they wouldn't, then it will be easier for him to carry out his plan if the people are made aware of the existence of Freedom and Archangel. Utilizing the power of media, he has made sure that further attempt by the two to remain hidden and unknown will be impossible. Virtually everyone in the world would know them. And that's how he would like the situation would be.

The computer screen in front of him blinked, signaling that someone was trying to call him. He pressed the button and a man in white technician uniform appeared, saluting. Gilbert raised his hand in response and waited until a small text box appeared at the bottom right of the screen showing that the line was secure. "Any update on that project?"

"Yes sir. Currently JEBAT module no 12 has been tested successfully and we will begin assembling module 13 today. Meanwhile we have attached 8 modules so far"

"Very good. Can it be completed according to the schedule?"

"Yes, but we need time and opportunity for a field test"

"I'm afraid we can't afford such leisure. I trust that you can do some simulation based on the data you have from test firing the first module"

"We'll try our best"

"Good. The fate of PLANTs and eventually Earth depends on your shoulder. We must have it ready before the Alliance finishes its own weapon. Please keep me informed about the progress from time to time"

"Understood," the technician said before signing off.

Gilbert continued his musing on Archangel and Freedom. He has already instructed the ZAFT headquarters to broadcast a message to Archangel to join them if the legged ship was found. But he was a bit skeptical about them agreeing to the message. Even Athrun's reenrollment into ZAFT didn't help sway his friends to make the right decision. He wondered about what he should do to convince them even further. The time was running out as the Alliance has completed one of their new generation space cruisers while three were in their final construction phase. If the ships attacks ZAFT's space fleet before ZAFT's own weapon was completed, it could spell trouble for ZAFT. To make matters worse, his agents reported about strange Alliance activities in the moon.

All those problems could potentially jeopardize his plan, but Gilbert Dullindal wasn't one to shy away from risks, being in politics for a long time. But even he knew when he should minimize them. Making up his mind, he called pressed the intercom button. "Get me Commander Danielle of the SRDF" SRD stood for Special Rapid Deployment Force, a group of elite soldiers who were handpicked by Gilbert himself and only answers to him.

A few minutes later, the door to his office opened and a female officer in ZAFT's white uniform entered and saluted him. "You sent for me sir?"

"Indeed. I had asked you study about the matter. Have you finished it?"

She nodded. "We concluded that the possibility of such thing happening is between 0.075 to 0.112"

He frowned. "Such a low possibility. So are you saying that it's unlikely to happen?

"Yes, sir"

Gilbert let out a long breath. "Very well, we have no choice but to proceed with the contingency plan. "Prepare your team for immediate deployment on Earth" He handed her a disk. "This contains your oder and mission plan. Further information will be provided if needed"

The officer in front of him nodded.

"Remember that since this is a special operation, details regarding this must be kept secret from others. As far as ZAFT's military administration is concerned, you are just replacing the base commander who has been transferred to Berlin"

"Yes sir!"

"That is all"

Commander Danielle saluted and left the room.

* * *

1

* * *

**Author's note (20 February 2006)**

1. It's the first time I've missed my deadline. Oh well, at least not that much. Thank you for your patience.

2. Ah. yes, I would like thank :

a) those who reviewed my story,

b) those who put my story on their alert,

c) those who put me on their favorite

d) those who read this fiction.


	18. The battle in the mountain

Alone in the mess hall, Kira stirred the cup of coffee in front of him slowly, distracted by his thoughts.

"You seemed preoccupied lately, Kira," a feminine voice behind him said.

"I'm sorry, Captain," Kira replied. "It's just that I have a lot on my mind to think about. How's the ship's progress?"

"We're currently taking route through the mountain range. I hope that by flying nap-of-earth and stick close to the mountains, we can avoid detection by both ZAFT and Alliance"

"That's a good idea,"

Murrue took a seat in front of him. "So, rather than to change the subject, is it okay for you to tell me what's bothering you?"

Kira smiled faintly. "As to be expected from you"

"It's not Fllaga, is it?" Murrue said, trying to put a brave front. Truth be told, she herself was still disturbed by the former Commander's loss of memory.

"No. It's about Fallen's pilot"

"Let me guess, she's someone you know personally, isn't she?"

Kira almost stood in shock.

Murrue chuckled mirthlessly. "I'm sorry. I know that it's a very bad joke and shouldn't have made it. I'm very sorry"

Kira calmed himself by reminding himself that there was no way she would have known about _her _being Fallen's pilot.

Oblivious to Kira's inner turmoil, Murrue continued "It's just that my nerve in on the edge these days, realizing that the man we're currently hold in the detention is Fllaga. He's supposed to be dead. I… I saw his mobile suit perish in front of my own very eyes"

"I know how you feel. But the man we have there is Commander Fllaga. I'm sure of it. Not a clone, but the Commander himself, although he may have some problems recalling us"

"The cruel trick of fate, eh?"

Kira starred looked down on his cup of coffee. An image of a girl with a flaming hair appear briefly before she was replaced with another one, this time a girl with long and pinkish hair. "Yeah, fate can be harsh to us" Then he raised his head and smile. "But we mustn't let it bother us"

Murrue rested her chin on one of her hands and gave him a very amused look.

"What?" Kira asked defensively. "What's the matter?"

"I'm supposed to be the one to be doing the comforting, not you" Then, with her other hand, she reached toward Kira's forehead head and flicked it playfully.

Kira smiled as he rubbed his forehead. "You have made me feel better by being here and showing that you care"

"But still…"

He shook his head. "So after we have passed through the mountain range, what will we do?"

"This route will take us to the sea. From there we will take the sea route to ORB, probably through the safer Atlantic Ocean. It's safe to say that neither ZAFT nor Earth Alliance will around to harass us"

"It will be best if it can remain that way," Kira said.

The speaker in the mess hall came to life with Mirrilia's voice. "ATTENTION, CAPTAIN MURRUE"

Murrue turned toward it.

"PLEASE COME TO THE BRIDGE"

Murrue turned toward Kira to see that he has already stood up, ready to move.

"It must be serious," Kira said.

She simply nodded.

* * *

"What has happened?" Murrue asked as she entered the ship's bridge with Kira right behind her. 

Mirrilia was busy typing into her console. "We have received a distress signal at location 765, 432. I'm putting it on speaker"

"PLEASE …BZZ… US! THE EARTH… BZZ…ARE ATTAC… BZZ… VILLAGE! HE… BZZ…" The rest of the message was distorted by static interference.

Cagalli who was manning the co-pilot seat turned toward Murrue. "Captain…"

"Let's go there and help them," Kira suggested.

"Yes," Murrue agreed. "Neumann, please set course according to the coordinate given" She then turned toward Kira, "I suppose you will want to go to the hangar and get ready for launch"

Kira nodded.

Around twenty minutes later, after navigating through narrow and snowy mountain passages, Archangel and Freedom arrived at the area. To everyone's surprise, they arrived at what looks like a military base.

Kira contacted Archangel. "Captain, what's your take on this?"

"I think it's a bit strange, but…"

A female ZAFT officer came on the main screen with a stern look on her face. "ATTENTION, ARCHANGEL AND ZAFT'S STOLEN MOBILE SUIT FREEDOM. YOU ARE INTRUDING INTO ZAFT'S TERRITORY. PLEASE PUT DOWN YOUR WEAPON AND SURRENDER OR ELSE WE WILL BE FORCED TO TAKE HOSTILE ACTION AGAINST YOU. I REPEAT…"

"Mirrilia," Murrue commanded, "lock at their frequency and put me on speaker"

Mirrilia typed away at her console. "Done"

The Archangel's Captain took the communication mouthpiece that was to her left side. "This is Captain Murrue of Archangel. We received a distress signal originating from a nearby point. We will like to investigate it"

The line was quiet for a minute before it came on line. "CAPTAIN MURRUE, IS IT? YOU REPUTATION PRECEDES YOU. YOUR PAST INVOLVEMENT IN THE SECOND JACHIN DUE BATTLE IS QUITE KNOWN"

"Thank you"

"AND THERE'S NO DENYING THAT YOU HAVE HELPED TREMENDOUSLY IN DEFEATING THE EARTH ALLIANCE'S MONSTROSITY IN BERLIN" The voice became quite for a while. "HOWEVER, THOSE ACHIEVEMENTS DOESN'T MEANT THAT WE WILL SIMPLY ALLOW YOU TO DO AS YOU PLEASE"

"Please, even as we speak, the Earth Alliance could be attacking a village nearby"

Murrue was rewarded by a chuckle. "YOU MUST HAVE THOUGHT THAT WE ARE IDIOTS. DON'T YOU THINK THAT WE WOULD HAVE KNOWN IF THERE'S SOMEONE IN DISTRESS AROUND HERE? THERE'S NO SETTLEMENT FOR KILOMETERS FROM HERE"

Murrue was stunned and so was the whole crew.

"I REPEAT OUR EARLIER WARNING. PLEASE SURRENDER OR PREPARED FOR TO FACE OUR ASSERTIVE SELF DEFENCE"

"Assertive self defense?" Mirrilia asked, a bit puzzled over the term.

"Basically, they'll shoot us down for our intrusion," Cagalli said. "It's a political lingo"

"I'm beginning to feel that it was a trap to lure us here, probably to fight ZAFT. This is bad," Murrue said worriedly while covering the mouthpiece. She then continued her conversation with the ZAFT commander, "We're sorry for the mistake that we made and will retreat from the sector completely"

"UNFORTUNATELY, THAT'S NOT TO BE PERMITTED. YOU HAVE PINPOITED OUR LOCATION AND WE CAN'T ALLOW YOU TO ESCAPE. THIS IS YOUR LAST WARNING. SURRENDER NOW," The ZAFT's commander signed off.

Murrue out down her mouthpiece and said, "Neumann, we have to get out of here now before they attack us"

As Romero eyed multiple bogeys on his radar console, he commented, "I think that it's already too late, Captain. Detecting large group comprising of ZAKUs, GINNs and GUAIZZs coming toward us"

Murrue issued an order to Neumann, "Turn the ship around"

Mirrilia cried out in alarm, "Captain! I'm receiving a very large heat signature right behind us"

"WHAT! That's impossible!"

"It's a land battleship, captain!"

"How could we pass through something as big as that without detecting it!" Murrue shook her surprise off. "Never mind. We have no time to waste. Raise the ship altitude. We will escape from by flying over the mountain"

Archangel began to rise higher and higher until Murrue spotted some devices she knew very well resting on the mountain top. "STOP THE ASCENT NOW!"

Neumann managed to stop the ship just a few seconds before a net of green laser was activated on top of Archangel. "That was close, Captain"

"Yes, but we're trapped now"

"What should we do?" Romero asked, he stared at the new dots on his console's screen. "There are more and more of them"

Tremor could be felt in the bridge as a few shells from the land battleship behind the legged ship found their mark.

"Damn it!" Murrue swore. "They're serious about shooting us down, aren't they? Neumann, turned the ship around to face the ZAFT's land battleship. We shouldn't let it target our back"

"Captain," Mirrilia announced as she read the text message beeping on her screen. "Kira will try to buy us some time while Archangel escapes."

"But he's facing a large number of enemies," Cagalli said. "We should provide some assistance to him"

"I think he would be all right. He's piloting Freedom, after all" Murrue said. "However…" she turned toward Mirrilia "Please launch a flight section of Murasame to protect the ship"

"But Kira wouldn't like that," Romero protested.

"He wouldn't," she answered. "But he should realize that it must be done"

"I'll go," Cagalli said.

"No, you wouldn't. I believe that this maybe a trap and they might be targeting you," Murrue said. She looked down for a few seconds as she fisted her palms tightly. "Order them not to actively pursue any enemy, but for any that get to near to the ship, shoot it down immediately," she finished quietly.

* * *

Kira evaded shots aimed at Freedom while zigzagging toward a group of three mobile suits that was the closest to him. When he got into the range, he quickly whipped out Freedom's twin saber and slashed two of the mobile suit's heads off before severing the third's left and right arms. Then without wasting any time, he quickly maneuvered Freedom toward the other group. He then slashed at a ZAKU when it happened. Instead of hitting the head, the sword cut directly through the cockpit section, killing whoever that was piloting it instantly. 

The ultimate Coordinator gasped in shock. What in the world has happened? He was sure that he was aiming for the mobile suit's head. He was so shocked that only when the warning system blared at him did he took the step to evade. Freedom veered to the right and a ZAKU's Heat Hawk missed it. Freedom then punched the other mobile suit in the back, crippling its flight pack. Kira realized that that he should pay more attention to the current fight instead of worrying over what he had done. He quickly blocked a Gouf's sword with Freedom's own before trying to cut its arms. Unfortunately, he was forced to break away when two GUAIZZ attacked him from behind.

"This is bad…" he said to himself. Freedom then opened its boosters and tried to attack the same group. But the group behaved differently. Rather than trying to fight back, the group split, with each of the mobiles moved in a different direction. Not wanting to think why his opponents were behaving weirdly, Kira decided to attack one of them. But when he was close enough to it, he was attacked from behind by another two mobile suits. They weren't the same ones that were with the lone mobile suit. Their attacks forced him to break his. Undaunted, he tried attacking another stray mobile suit. Another two mobile suits attacked his back in retaliation. It was as if they weren't trying to attack, but to coax him to attack them instead.

Eyebrows furrowed, Kira wondered what he should do. Things didn't look very well for him. Looking at the display screen on his right side from the corner of his eyes, he saw that the same thing could be said for Archangel.

* * *

Inside an operation room, the Commander Danielle looked at a holographic projection depicting everything in the area. "How's the situation?" she asked. 

"We've only lost three mobile suits so far" her assistant said.

"Good. Remind our pilot that they should avoid being close to Freedom and should run away when it comes"

"Ma'am, permission to speak freely"

"Granted"

"But is it okay for us to be doing this. I mean, cornering Freedom while avoiding attacking him directly seems is a good strategy to deplete its battery reserve, but with nuclear generator, it could outlast all of ours"

"Don't worry. It wouldn't come to that. Even if the mobile suit is nuclear powered, its pilot is not, whether he's the famed ace who fought in the Second Jachin Due battle or not. After all, he's just like us. So if we can tire the pilot out, we will be able to capture both Archangel and Freedom quite easily"

"Why are we giving so much attention to that mobile mobile suit, Commander? By our standards, it can be considered as obsolete"

"Obsolete or not, it's still ZAFT's mobile suit. We can't have it fighting against us in the future" She watched the screen as Freedom succeeded in crippling two more mobile suits. "You can see how powerful it is despite its supposed obsolescent"

"Yes, ma'am!"

* * *

The Archangel's bridge shook from the shells being fired at it by the ZAFT land battleship. It was apparent that either they surrender or fight back. Running away was out of the question because the ship was trapped in between the ZAFT headquarter and the land battleship. Although they could try to destroy the laser net installation, doing that meant that the ship couldn't retaliate against enemy fires. And Murrue had another reason to go against trying such method. Normally, the laser net generators would be concealed carefully to prevent detection. But the ones around the mountain could be seen clearly. It was as if the enemy had wanted for Archangel to detect and destroy them. 

"What should we do, captain?" Mirrilia asked as another explosion rocked the bridge.

Murrue gritted her teeth. "Try to contact them again and say that we have no intention of antagonizing ZAFT. We apologize for our mistake. Meanwhile, get the other flight ready for take off"

"Captain!" Cagalli protested.

"I know" She massaged her temple. "I really don't want this to happen, but it seems that we may have to fight our way out"

* * *

"Commander," one of the ZAFT personnel called out. 

Commander Danielle turned toward him, a hand on her hip. "What?"

"Archangel is asking for a ceasefire"

"Ceasefire?" she asked in a mocking voice. "They're the one who attacked our mobile suits despite us firing warning shots toward them to ask them to surrender" She snorted. "Very well, we'll cease our fire if they land and surrender"

"MA'AM!" another one called out over his console. "Another flight has been disabled and is returning the base"

"Send more mobile suits then. Get the ground crew to work on the disabled mobile suits as fast as they can. I believe that Freedom only destroyed non fatal parts such as the main camera or the limbs. That could be changed easily enough by using another mobile suit to help expedite the refitting the components"

"But Commander," her assistant protested. "Although the parts can be rapidly changed, it goes against the Standard Operating Procedure to be deploying the newly repaired mobile suits without prior testing"

She looked at him from the corner of her eyes "Well, then, can you tell me in which section of the Earth Alliance's Standard Operating Procedure can you find the section that supports firing nuclear weapons at unarmed civilian population? Or can you show me the part in our own military manual that tells us that it's okay to drop a colony on Earth, killing a lot of people, just because there are few LOGOS scums living on it?"

"Commander…"

"We're in the middle of the war, soldier, and it's best that you remember that fact"

"YES, MA'AM!" he said while saluting her.

"Mobilize everything we can, including those Earth Alliance captured tanks and howitzers. We'll keep attacking even if we have to throw snowballs at them. We must teach them that ZAFT's pride is something they shouldn't trample on. DO YOU UNDERSTAND THIS, PEOPLE?" she asked loudly.

"YES!" everyone chorused.

* * *

The targeting console came up on screen. Kira quickly calculated and inputted the variables needed for the computer to target ZAFT mobile suits. One by one a triangle appeared on some of the dots on the radar, signaling Kira that the weapon calibration for shooting those mobile suits had been achieved. As usual, he was trying to disable rather than destroying them. At last, the triangles have stopped forming, telling him that the optimum firing condition has been achieved. He pressed the trigger and the cockpit shook slightly from the recoil. 

All of the shots hit the mobile suits he targeted. However there was something that caused Kira to gasp. The green laser from Freedom's right blaster utterly destroyed two mobile suits while one of the bazooka shots hit a Gouf's flight pack, causing it to crash into a building. A second later, a very large explosion erupted from that building, almost guaranteeing that everyone inside it would be killed instantly.

Kira felt his hands trembling. It was the first time he misfired ever since he piloted Freedom. He asked himself what did go wrong. While slamming on the airbrake to stop Freedom from being fried by enemy beam shots, he mentally went through what he did before firing. He was sure he did everything correctly, he told himself while manipulating the controls to make Freedom kick away a ZAKU that was trying to slash at the cockpit with its Heat Hawk.

"Kira, are you okay?" Mirrilia asked as her face came on screen.

"I'm alright" he answered, a bit unsure of himself.

"Should we send some backup to help you?"

He looked at Archangel on his left screen. It was very obvious that the ship was having its own troubles to deal with. "No need. How's the situation over there?" Just as he had just finished asking, he saw a shell hit Archangel's right wing. Before Kira could ask about the hit, Mirrilia's image blurred a bit as a missile slammed into Archangel's port side.

* * *

1

* * *

**Author's note (1 Mac 2006) **

1. Sorry for having a cliffhangar again, but since I originally wrote this chapter and the next one as a single chapter, you can expect next one to be updated earlier than usual.

2. Some of you may receive notification for this chapter a few times. It's because that I'm previewing it on fanfiction. Now, if only fanfiction have that life preview function before updating the story (the document manager looks a bit different to me compared to reading on a normal browser)


	19. The cornered sheeps

"The ship is currently holding out against their assault, but I don't know how long we can last if this situation continue," Mirrilia said, while holding the edge of her console with hands as the ship shook again.

Kira's face on the screen look distraught. "Sorry, it's my fault for being unable to really help"

She shook her head. "You have done the best that you have. Captain has already ordered for another flight to get ready for launch to intercept any mobile suit that gets close enough to the ship"

"But that will them to be even more aggressive"

"We're have been trying to trying to tell them that it's our mistake all this while and they've been ignoring them" She was about to continue when she saw the other screen vying for her attention. "Sorry, Kira, but we'll continue this later" Cutting the communication with Kira, she quickly concentrated on the other screen. "Captain, Jake's Murasame unit has been hit and is going for an emergency landing"

"Give the clearance for the second flight to launch," Murrue commanded. "Get one of them to mount a rescue operation if possible"

"Captain," Cagalli said. "Let me launch"

Murrue looked at her for a moment before looking at Amagi. It was clear that the senior ORB officer had worries in his eyes regarding Cagalli wanting launch. Giving an almost imperceptible nod to him, she turned to Cagalli. "I'm sorry, but that's not permissible"

"CAPTAIN!"

"Representative Attha," Murrue said softly but firmly, using the formal salutation to remind Cagalli who she was to ORB. "You may hold power over the parliament, but on this ship, my authority isn't to be questioned. Is that understood?" she asked, a tinge of regret evident.

The young woman sunk into her own chair. "Yes, Captain" She had to suppress her disappointment as she sees three more Murasames took off to defend the ship.

* * *

Danielle put her hands behind her back as she appraised the current situation.

"Another flight of ZAKU has just been launched, Ma'am," someone announced.

"Good" she turned toward her assistant. "Is there any indication that Strike Rouge has been launched from that ship?"

"No, ma'am"

"Ask our pilots to keep a look out for that mobile suit. Its capture is of highest priority"

"Yes!"

Then one of the personnel monitoring the situation announced. "Archangel is moving toward point B through C"

"I want the ship's schematics on main display," she said.

The main screen displayed Archangel's plan, while also displaying some information on its weaponry and its engine statistics

After looking at the locations of Archangel's CIWS batteries, Danielle asked, "How long?"

"At the current speed, one minute before their biggest blind spot will be directly above point C"

"Proceed as planned"

"Yes," he answered as his hands were busy typing on his computer.

A minute later, Archangel shook violently as a barrage of missile was being launched right underneath its amidships. At the same time, red orbs could be seen underneath the snow as they came to life.

* * *

"Mirrilia! Status report!" Murrue shouted.

"The armor middle section underneath this ship has been damaged from the vertical mines. Efficiency is down to 56."

"Captain," Romero called out in alarm. "There are three BeCues and six ZAKUs beneath us!"

"Target the CIWS on them!"

"It's no use!" Romero replied "Unit 14, and 16 has been disabled shortly after vertical mines exploded"

"What!" Murrue gritted her teeth "Neumann, can you change the ship's orientation so that our weaken spot wouldn't be facing them?"

"I can, but that would only stop them for a moment," the Archangel's pilot answered as he steered the ship away from the mobile suit. "The terrain is hampering our movement"

"I know, but it's for a stop gap measure" she replied. "Mirrilia, contact the second flight and ask them to clear the mobile suits underneath us"

Mirrilia did as she was told and contacted the second flight leader. A man in ORB flight suite appeared on her screen. "Second flight leader, you are ordered to clear the enemy force at this location"

"Mirrilia, this coordinate looks like they are directly beneath Archangel," Zachary Benedine, the second flight leader asked confusedly.

"That's right"

"Underneath the ship! How could they be there without you guys knowing!"

"Either they were equipped with Mirage Colloid or they were there in the first place"

"You mean they were sitting there all the time? They were waiting for us?"

"I'm not sure whether they were waiting for us or not, but I couldn't wait for you to intercept instead of talking about them" Mirrila said wryly.

In his Murasames, Zachary was smiling at the remark. "Gotcha" He then contacted his wingmen "You heard the lady," Zachary told them. "We're gonna sweep them of their feet"

The other two acknowledged his order.

The three Murasames quickly changed their course and flew underneath their mother ship. They saw ZAFT's mobile suits were firing at Archangel. Without wasting time, the trio quickly unleashed their missiles at them. The missiles hit four of the mobile suits, destroying them instantly. Although the other missiles didn't find their marks, the explosion caused by them managed to throw the remaining mobile suits into disarray. Zachary and his wingmen took opportunity to land and transformed their mobile armor into mobile suits. One of the ZAKUs managed to detect their approach and fired its weapon at them, but the trio quickly maneuvered their Murasames into prone position and blasted it. The other ZAFTs mobile suits searched around for them, but the surrounding snow provided them with cover as they took the ZAFT's mobile suits out one by one

* * *

"Commander Danielle, we have lost the signal of the strike force"

She made an angry sound through her gritted teeth. "How's the situation with the Freedom?"

"We've managed to stop it from helping Archangel, but I don't think our force could hold out much longer"

"Strike Rouge?" she asked another one.

"Not in sight, ma'am"

Danielle grunted in frustration. "How about Archimedes?" she asked, referring to the land battleship that was engaging Archangel.

"The ship is still operational and firing its cannons on Archangel"

She began to smile "If I'm not mistaken, we have few more ZAKUs on Archimedes, right?"

"We have two reserve flights"

"Two flights, so that's mean we have six of them. Very good. Prep them for launch. Equip them with Gunner Wizard and order them to fire their M1500 cannons at that legged ship"

Her assistant heard the order and was shocked. "But we're not authorized to use such a powerful weapons on Archangel"

She waved him off. "I'll take the responsibility. If we can't catch them, then we'll have destroy them"

* * *

Kira saw a red beam blast passing through Freedom's right side and quickly searched for the source. He was surprised to find out that it came from somewhere in front of Archangel. "How's the situation over there?"

Mirrilia reappeared on the screen. "Part of the armor has been damaged, but I think we're quite okay"

While feeding commands to the targeting computer, he said, "Are you sure? They're using positron cannons. One direct hit and it'll be all over"

"The remaining Flight One is doing a bomb run on the ZAKUs, but they're quite entrenched on that battleship"

"Then I'll go there after I take care of the mobile suits over here" The targeting computer has finished its processing and Kira pressed the trigger and couldn't believe his eyes. All of the shots hit the targeted mobile suits' cockpit. "No… It can't be…"

"Kira?" Mirrilia asked concernedly when she saw that his face was expressionless

Then a missile managed to hit Freedom in the chest.

* * *

Meanwhile, inside Cherubim's infirmary, an unconscious Fllay who had an oxygen mask strapped to her face was writhing and convulsing. Meanwhile, her face was showing the tell tale sign of fear. Her breathing became faster and faster. Finally her eyes opened and she let out a scream. Few seconds later, the door to the room opened and Dorothy entered. She was greeted with the sight of the red haired pilot sitting on her bed. Surprised at Fllay suddenly waking out of her comma, she was rooted to her place.

"Where am I?" Fllay asked weakly as she looked at her hands.

"In the clinic. You were unconscious for a few days"

The answer was lost on Fllay who muttered, "I have no time to lose"

"Why?"

"I have to go… now"

The doctor was surprised to hear that. "Go where?"

"To the snowy capped mountains"

Dorothy's eye widened. They were underground in the middle of a desert and Fllay was talking about snowy mountains? "Why must you go to the mountains?" she asked in a voice normally reserved for children. Meanwhile, one of her hands snaked along the nearby medicine tray, searching for something she prepared just in case such thing happened.

Fllay tried to get up. "He's in pain"

"He?"

She looked at the ceiling in panic. "The one I tried to…"

Dorothy took the opportunity of a distracted Fllay to jab a syringe filled with tranquilizer into the latter's arm.

"…the one I…" Her eyes rolled upwards and she fell to the bed once more as the tranquilizer claimed her consciousness.

The other woman examined all of her vital signs. Satisfied that Fllay was just sleeping, she muttered. "Sorry for having to do that. You're in no condition to get up, much less worry about other people. For now, you can't do anything. Just rest" She put a hand on the girl's forehead. "I wonder who this person you wanted so much to save?"

* * *

Murrue and her crew members starred at the screen as a large explosion engulfed Freedom. To everyone's relief, the mobile suit flew away moments later, seemingly undamaged as its Shift Phase armor has protected the mobile suit from the explosion.

"Captain," Romero called from his console. "One of our Murasames that's attacking the land battleship has been hit and is returning to ship"

Then a big tremor shook the ship, causing Murrue to be thrown off her seat and into the floor. She quickly got up from her fall. Ignoring the vile metallic taste in her mouth and the reddish liquid from her cut lips, the captain asked," What just happened?"

Neumann, who was struggling to hold the ship steady answered, "We lost a bit of the left wing and it's affecting the ship's stability"

Wiping the blood using her sleeve, she got back in her seat. "The longer we fight, the more vulnerable we will be"

"Then what should we do?" Cagali asked

Murrue kept quiet for a moment before finally issuing her order, "Mirrilia, broadcast to the land battleship and the ZAFT base that unless they stop attacking us with positron cannons, we will be forced to fire our Lohengrin"

"But we can't do that!" Cagalli cried out.

As the bridge shook again and the light dimmed for a second, Murrue said quietly, "I'm open to other suggestions if anyone has any"

Everyone else didn't say a thing, realizing that they didn't have much choice.

* * *

"Ma'am, Archangel is threatening to fire its Lohengrins at us unless we stop our attack," the communication officer called out.

"Oh?" the commander simply replied.

"What should, ma'am?" her assistant asked.

"Hmm… I don't know… since when do we submit to our enemies' threat even though it's clear that they're the ones who are at fault?" she asked back.

"Erm… well…"

"STUPID!" she shouted. "We're soldiers, not preschoolers that can be led easily! If all of you don't have spines, we might as well let them go away just like that. While we're at it, maybe we can just surrender our base here to the LOGOS and let them shoot nuclear missiles at PLANTs"

"I'm sorry for being out of line, ma'am"

"If they want to fire, let them do it. It will be their third mistake today" Danielle was smiling mentally. "We mustn't give in to the terrorists"

* * *

"FCS checked" Romero announced. "The main battery has been charged."

Slowly, a door opened underneath each of Archangel's hangar's entrance, revealing the deadly Lohengrin cannon inside them.

"Emergency power is at nominal efficiency and ready to go online," he continued.

Murrue turned toward Cagalli. "Have you acquired the targets?"

The young woman drew a long breath before answering, "Yes, Captain"

"Fire"

The twin red beam of death streamed from Archangel's bow into their targets, instantly incinerating everything that they touched.

* * *

The female ZAFT commander stood calmly overlooking the smoky ruins of what used to be her base. There were a lot of activities around her as numerous fire fighters tried to control the blazes that has started, rescue teams tried to search for trapped survivors while medical personnel were conducting hasty surgeries to few who were critically wounded. Meanwhile, Archangel and Freedom managed to get away after the famous legged ship used its Lohengrin cannons to cause an avalanche that buried Archimedes. She eyed her assistant coming toward her with a written report. "How's is it?"

"Eighteen of our mobile suits have been destroyed by Freedom and the Murasames while the others were incapacitated. However, three of those crashed into the armory dump and a fuel storage tank, setting them on fires and triggering multiple explosions. As for now, twenty two are confirmed dead, fifteen are critically wounded, thirty three are wounded while seventeen people are missing, presumably trapped under the rubbles"

"How about Archimedes?"

"It is buried under the snow and rubbles caused by the avalanche, but according to the communication we established with it, the ship is in good condition except for some damages. Unfortunately, the same thing cannot be said regarding the mobile suits that were on it"

"This is pretty bad, isn't it?" she said simply.

"Pretty bad, ma'am"

"That seems to be the case. Have we any recording of what happened today?"

"Although the original was destroyed, we still have backups of it"

"Good. I might need it to explain my error in judgment later to the court. As of for now, you will relieve me of my command as I'm not fit to lead after what had just happened. I'll be placing myself on house arrest"

"Understood"

"By the way, can you relay a message to the ZAFT headquarters as soon as possible?"

"Yes, ma'am"

"Since I'll be unable to return to PLANT soon, please ask a Commander Ananda Eizert in the Team Eizert to buy a 'Little Bo Beep' book for me"

"Little Bo Beep?"

"It's for my nephew's birthday five days tomorrow. Since I wouldn't be there by then, I needed Commander Ananda to help me give it to him"

"Understood"

A few hours later, Commander Ananda was in the Chairman Gilbert's office, standing at attention while saluting Gilbert as the latter read the report that has been presented to him.

"How was the operation?" Gilbert asked after giving the signal for the other man to lower his hand.

"Operation Little Bo Beep is successful. We have managed to force Archangel and Freedom to retaliate with force. It seems that your guess about the ship is carrying Representative Attha is correct, sir"

Gilbert nod, a thin smile on his lip. He had suspected that the ship was still carrying the ORB's Representative; that was why it wasn't too difficult to trick them to fight ZAFT. "That's to be expected. So I believe that all agents we sent have been eliminated?"

"Yes. Either they got shot by Yamato or they purposely crashed into the base building"

"Good" Gilbert reread the report. "Although I would have preferred for Archangel to destroy our land battleship, I guess this will be enough proof for me to have a solid case to present to the PLANTs' Council. With these facts, it shouldn't be too difficult to get approval from it to issue an order to eliminate Archangel, Freedom and Eternal" Gilbert sighed. "They're quite troublesome, spreading chaos to the war; as if the war is not chaotic enough without their gung-ho intrusion. Anyway, please cover up about Danielle's group's involvement with this operation and try to arrange for the best defense team for her"

"Will do, sir"

"And please have the incident at the base classified as level 1" Level 1 classification was designated for secret information that could lead to death by firing squad if possessed by unauthorized personnel.

"Yes sir"

Gilbert thought for a moment. "Hmm… What's the status the agents that we sent to infiltrate Clyne's group? Are they inside the organization?"

"They have managed to be accepted into the group, but they haven't been able to get any information that can be of use to us"

"I suppose that's to be expected, since the group is very wary of newcomers. But that doesn't matter yet. Although they're unable to spy on the faction for us, maybe we can get our agents to 'spy' for it"

"Forgive me sir, but I don't get it"

"Have our agents leak the information to the group. I want to see how our Lady Lacus will react to it"

"Yes sir"

"Also, leak it to some of the Representatives, especially that Augustus representative, since he knows Talia personally.

"Sir, with all due respect, you can tell her yourself"

Gilbert chuckled at the suggestion. After he has stopped laughing, he smiled at the officer in front of him while shaking his head. "Sorry, I'm not trying to make fun of your suggestion. Although that's a very good suggestion, it is better for her to find out about it from other sources. If I told her, she'll be suspicious of my motive. But if she's to know about it from someone, say her friend, she'll arrive to the conclusion that I want her to have. Then, she would be more receptive to the order that I will issue soon"

"Thank you, sir!" Ananda said in gratitude as the Chairman was willing to reveal his personal thought on the matter. The ZAFT officer had long respected the latter's guile and shrewdness in planning and orchestrating political maneuver. The previous Chairman Zala was nothing compared to the calm and collected leader sitting in front of him. It was a person like Gilbert Dullindal who will win the war and ensure the Coordinators' survival; until that day arrives, Ananda Eizert would pledge his loyalty to him.

Gilbert waved him off. "It's the least I can do for you, since I'm asking you to do a lot for me"

"The pleasure's mine, Sir!"

"The same goes for me. By the way, please make sure that the leak couldn't be traced"

"Will do that, sir"

"You may go"

The officer saluted and exited the room. After Commander Ananda has left, Gilbert turned toward the computer screen in front of him. The screen was showing Kira Yamato's biodata. "The sheeps are really gullible, just as I thought. Hmm… I wonder if the term 'scapegoats' is more fitting for them" He started typing on his computer, "Well, it's time to get the wolves to corner them" After he has finished with what he was typing, he put his fingers together in front of his face, thinking. "It will be interesting to see how Kira will react to the fact that he has killed a lot of people today. Would he still try to keep his ideals, or will he abandon them?" He closed his eyes "Well, one thing for sure, today's event will surely cause him to have cognitive dissonance. I wonder whether it will affect his battle abilities" A smile appeared on his lips as he said, "I'm counting on you to personally take care of this…"

The computer screen in front of him was showing a picture of someone in ZAFT's red elite uniform.

"Athrun Zala"

* * *

**1**

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**Author's note**

1. Who thought Shinn will be in this chapter, please stand up, please stand up (sounds like Eminem's song, "Slim Shady", isn't it?) Honestly speaking, I have finished the draft of the story about Archangel's battle in the mountains last year, ahead of the fight in Berlin. But since it's almost like reading the synopsis of the episode, well… you know what happens… After all, it seems to me that ZAFT didn't really have a concrete case to bring down Archangel in the series, so instead of me complaining about it, might as well I write one for my story.

2. After I reread this chapter to weed out mistakes and plot holes, I discover that the part where I tweak the most is the one regarding Gilbert and his master plan. When I start to watch GSD, after the first episode, I thought to myself, "ZAFT got itself a weenie for a leader" Then as the story goes, it changed into, "Hmm… quite a clever man" and when after Operation Angel Down, it became ,"Holy Crap! A guile villain! MY kind of villain" Then of course, I stupidly watched the final episode and my thinking was, "Sigh. The director had to use the scene from Endless Waltz whereby Derkin Barton got shot by his own henchman" When writing about this episode, I thought that as a scheming villain, Gilbert wouldn't be too hesitant to use his men so that he could have a solid case against Archangel (He let LOGOS shot Requiem at PLANTs to kill a million people, so twenty-thirty lives lost is a trivial matter)

3. I know Archangel and her crew may seem to be out of character to few of you, but before you point that out to me, please put yourself in their position. Imagine that you're being sandwiched by enemy forces and Freedom couldn't get to you because it's being kept busy. Then the enemy sprung traps after traps and even resorted to using powerful cannons to destroy you. Are you going to a) do like what they would have done in Gundam Seed and fight back, or b) Say that "ZAFT is trying to get us, we mustn't fight back" like they did in Gundam Seed Destiny? I asked myself this kind of questions every time I'm writing about Kira, Athrun and Archangel crew. Admittedly, some of them are hard to answer, but I listen to my heart and do what I feel is right.


	20. Dillemas

"What!" Athrun said as Captain Talia looked away and Heine beside him looked uncomfortable at his sudden outburst. They were in her room to discuss regarding the order that has been received from the headquarters. "You must be joking!"

"Look, Athrun," Talia said patiently, "I have reread it a few times. I already made a checksum of the message for authenticity. If you really want to see it for yourself, here, I'll show you" she tapped on her keyboard and turned the monitor toward Athrun and Heine.

Holding the monitor with his left hand, Athrun leaned and quickly read the message. Then he reread it a few times. Since his body was blocking Heine, the other FAITH member had to lean to a view the information.

"Satisfied?" Talia asked as Athrun stood rigidly, eyes showing disbelief.

"But why?"

Talia bit her lips as she didn't like what she was about to say. "Archangel and Freedom are considered threat to ZAFT because of the chaos they brought to the battlefields. We are ordered to capture it; failing which, we will destroy it"

Athrun was livid. "But they have fought against that mobile suit in Berlin. Please, check with the headquarters… there must be some mistake. Chairman…"

"PLEASE GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF, MR. ZALA!" Talia shouted, glaring at the pilot. When Athrun has quieted down, she said. "I already sent a request for the order to be reviewed, but the fact remains that unless a subsequent order countermanding this one arrives, we are to proceed" Her looks then softened. "I understand that you have some ties with the ship and its crew and would not force you to participate in the mission. But please remember that we're ZAFT, not some teenagers going out for a picnic. We have our missions to carry out. Furthermore…" she trailed.

"Furthermore?" Athrun asked.

"Forget it"

Heine said, "But you did mention about capturing the ship just now, didn't you Captain?"

Talia nodded. "Actually, the chain of command is quite reluctant to destroy the ship; it has become a symbol of hope and peace in the previous war. If we destroy it and people find out, it will affect their moral. That is why this operation is classified as secret and its destruction must also be carried out in secret"

"Why are we focusing on destroying the ship?" Athrun asked. "We should be thinking about getting them to surrender"

Talia sighed. "Because, Athrun, I honestly think that we couldn't simply persuade them to surrender" She then looked him in the eyes. "And the only person that can get them to do so wouldn't do so because he's uncertain of himself"

Athrun was taken aback by her comment. "You think that I will betray ZAFT?"

She shook her head. "Far be it for me to have such an opinion about you" At Athrun's raising his eyebrows questioningly, she continued, "What I mean by that statement is that if we ask you to participate, it's like we are asking you to betray yourself"

Heine nodded in understanding. "Remember what I told you before, Athrun? If you hesitate while in the battle, you might end up killed"

"A very good advice," Talia said.

Athrun thought and replied, "I know what to do. I will launch in Gaia" He turned toward Heine and gave a look that brook no argument. Heine simply nodded. He then turned toward Talia, "I will get them to surrender. I'm sure the Chairman would prefer that"

"He will. But even if you launch to persuade them surrender, you must be fully prepared in case they wouldn't surrender. What would you do when that happens… Athrun Zala?"

The man wasn't prepared for that question. "I… I…"

"Unlike Savior, Gaia is now fully assigned to Minerva and is under my authority. I can simply deny you the use of it, acting under my own FAITH authority of course. We will have some time before the mission actually starts, so please use it to think" She pressed a button and the computer switched off, a sign that their conversation was coming to a close.

Athrun was about to say something when Heine put a hand on his shoulder and pulled Athrun to look at him while shaking his head. "Let's go, Athrun"

The two of them were going to walk out of the room when Athrun stopped in his stride. "Heine, please go ahead. I want to the Captain privately"

His colleague nodded and left the room.

"What is it now, Athrun? I thought that I have made it clear that we have nothing else to discuss"

"Just now you mentioned something. I want to know what it is"

His question was rewarded with a piercing stare from Talia. After a long while, she finally relaxed slightly. "Very well. I'll show it to you, if you want to know. But remember two things. One, this is a classified information and we can be court-martialed for knowing about this. Two, you will really hate yourself for asking me to show you. Are you sure you want to know?"

"Yes"

"According to my source in the ZAFT's military headquarters, there's a very compelling reason why we're ordered to capture or destroy Archangel and Freedom"

"What is it?"

Talia showed him her computer screen. "This"

Athrun was aghast as he saw what was being displayed on it.

She continued, "I myself doubted that this video is real, so I have it checked. It is real. And according to my other source, a newly completed base in Switzerland has been requesting for emergency aids and supplies. According to official report, there's a major avalanche in the area. But, as you can see, this is not the case"

"But Freedom and Archangel…"

Talia sighed. "I don't know what had happened, but war can change people"

Athrun looked at the scene where Archangel fired its Lohengrin cannons sadly. "I still can't believe it, but if this is true, then it's my responsibility to stop them"

"Do give it a careful thought, Athrun. The mission is supposed to start when we found the legged ship, so that will give you plenty of time to think about it"

"I will" Athrun said while leaving the room.

Talia looked at the screen in front of her and pressed the button to switch it off. "I myself need to think about it," she sighed.

* * *

Riveted to her seat on Eternal, Lacus watched the whole video as Freedom slashed one ZAFT's mobile suit in the cockpit area. Worried creased her face when the video displayed Kira destroying few of the mobile suits, something out of character with him. 

"Never thought the kid still has it in him to do that," a masculine voice commented.

She looked at the voice's owner. Andrew Bartfeld, Dessert Tiger was also watching the video, arms crossed. Beside him, Da Costa was shaking his head in disbelief. The head of Clyne faction turned her head toward the screen once more. "I find it hard to believe this had happened"

"But the fact that it's Freedom that shot them, although the way few of them purposely got into his shots seems highly suspicious" the one-eyed veteran remarked. "For example, look at that GOUF. It can be seen that if it remained still, the shot would only destroy its head"

"It's a plan by the Chairman to frame Archangel," Da Costa observed.

Andrew Bartfeld rolled his eye. Sometimes he wonders whether his assistant was a Coordinator or not; the young man has the knack to state something that even a 10 year old Natural kid would have known. Deciding to focus on more important thing, he asked, "What are we going to do about this, Lady Lacus"

She was quiet for a while. "I trust that most of the Representatives aren't aware about this?"

"You're right. But he has continued with the tabling of his plan"

"Then, for the time being, we do nothing. It seems that the Chairman is expecting us to react strongly against his suggestion"

Andrew nodded. "But if we do that, he'll simply reveal this tape and we'll find ourselves trapped in his maneuvering"

"In the end, we'll be forced to agree to his plan or we will be seen as supporting terrorists"

"But Kira and Archangel are no terrorists!" Da Costa said. "We should do everything we can to help them!"

Lacus nodded. "I understand, but for now, there's no way we can help them now without causing more troubles for everyone. As it is, they should be doing fine"

Although her voice was even and neutral, Andrew has been with her for a long time that he could detect her emotion seeping through her words. He saw Da Costa was about to say something and pulled the other man away, "Come, I have something that I need your help" When the two of them were far enough from her, he said to Da Costa, "Next time, watch your mouth. I'll let you know that she's already very concerned about them without you saying it. Look at the way she is gripping her chair"

"If she's very concerned, then she should order us to go and help them"

"Da Costa, she's a leader, and a leader must always consider her moves carefully. Lady Lacus also has other priorities to think of. For instance, just few hours before we get this video, we learned that one of ZAFT laboratories has come up with a prototype device that can create a neutron neutralizing field"

"A neutron neutralizing field? Does that mean that it can retard nuclear chain reaction just like N-Jammer?"

"Unlike N-Jammer, this device is said to be able to protect any place from a nuclear blast, even that has been caused by a N-Canceller equipped nuclear missile.

"That means if we can get our hand on it, it will mean that we can protect PLANTs from possible nuclear attacks in the future"

"That's the problem"

"Huh?"

"The lab was destroyed. The official report states that it's the work of an Earth Alliance covert strike team, but with the current situation, we're not sure"

"How could that be?" Da Costa realized what Andrew implied. "But it's impossible that ZAFT is behind that attack. Why would it sabotage its own research?"

Andrew shrugged. "This is war; nothing is taken for granted. Remember that"

"Yes, sir"

"Good, let's go and do our work" Andrew said as he flew away, the zero gravity allowing him to do so.

Da Costa glanced toward Lacus before following.

Still at her seat, Lacus's eyes were closed as water droplets floated by her face. "Kira, please be safe"

* * *

He was frowning slightly as he looked at the crew going about their work repairing Freedom. Kira had come to the hangar, wanting to check up on the mobile suit's onboard computers, but he was told to wait as their work might clash with his. 

"Hey, kid"

"Murdoch"

The head mechanic moved to his left beside him. "A penny for your thought?"

He balled his hands. "I want to do my work but until your guys have finished theirs, I couldn't do anything"

Murdoch looked at him from the corner of his eyes when he heard that Kira said that he couldn't do anything. It was typical of the kid, Murdoch reasoned to himself. Although the Kira was a Coordinator as well as an ace pilot, he was always afraid that he would be unable to do anything. "Relax. It's not they're not trying to patch up your Freedom as fast as they want; they also need to repair some of the damages on this ship after this"

"How is the situation?"

"It seems that we need to repair the wings. Since those ZAFT mobile suits fried them, we have trouble flying stably" He put a hand on his hip and let out an exasperated breath. "Captain suggested we just used other parts from the ship to repair. As if that's easy to do"

"I'm sorry for being unable to do anything," Kira said forlornly.

"Go and get us some coffee"

Kira nodded and left the place. A few minutes later, he returned with two cups and handed one to Murdoch.

The older man looked at the steam coming out of his cup and blew it. "Are you satisfied now?"

"I don't know what you are trying to say," Kira answered, puzzled.

"You did say that you're unable to anything; this proves that you can at least do something beneficial to everyone"

"But what I mean is…"

Murdoch waved him off. "I know. I know" He looked at his tanned skin. "Hmm… this time of the year is good for more tan in the Caribbean. Can you get me there?"

"You know I can't do that. Right now Freedom is being repaired"

"Okay, teleport me there"

"Huh?"

"You can do it, can't you?"

"It…"

"It's beyond _our_ capabilities as human, Kira. The same thing with the previous battle. I know you have tried your best in the previous battle"

"But they still die because of me," Kira said quietly while looking at his free hands "Because of these blood-stained hands, they lost their life"

Murdoch grabbed the hand and examined it. "Hmm… I don't really see any stain on it. Maybe I should pour some grease on it?"

"Mr. Murdoch!"

He grinned. "Heh. Maybe these hands are blood stained, but I also see that these are the hands that have saved me and everyone else on the ship"

"But I did so by sacrificing other people's lives" Kira said, frustrated.

"But you did your best not avoid killing them"

"Still…"

Murdoch slapped Kira's back, causing him to spill some of his coffee on his uniform's sleeve and the floor. The head mechanic looked what he had caused and guffawed. "How about that? Now you also have some coffee stain on your hand as well"

Kira gave him slightly annoyed look.

"Look kid. Just as you can't teleport me to Bahamas or anywhere I want to go, you also can't guarantee that any life wouldn't be lost if there's battle. You can try your best to ensure that, but you must also remember that you're no god, kid. You're just a friggin' kid who's still wet behind his ears. Don't let the fact that you're an ace pilot gets to your head and feed your ego. Honestly, sometimes I wonder if pilots became airheads just because they're accustomed to high altitudes"

"I don't mean it that way"

"Then, stop thinking about that. Someone once told me that a good pilot is someone that tries his best to carry out his mission. If he can't do that, he will try his best to return safely and even failing to do that will try his best to stay alive"

"Alive…" Then a thought cross Kira's mind. "Who said that?"

"Commander Fllaga, or as he would rather us call him now, Neo Lornoke, _Colonel_. Remember that," Murdoch said as began to walk away. "Oh by the way, I leave the maintenance of Freedom's black box in your hand. I have enough of a shock to last me for a life time the last time I went through it"

"You mean…"

"Don't worry. Remember to try your best in this part also"

Kira only blinked as he looked at the other man walking away while humming merrily to himself.

* * *

Fllay opened her eyes to see so many people standing next to her bed; their attention was fixed on a television screen at the corner of the infirmary she was in. Trying to move her arm, she felt a small sting and looked at it. There was a tube connecting her to a water pack. Looking down, she found out that she was wearing a hospital gown. She shook her head slightly. Curious, she craned her neck, trying to look at what they were watching but her view was blocked by their bodies. 

Razak, one of the technicians in the hangar turned toward Fllay. "Hey, everybody! Look what we have here. Sleeping beauty woke up without being kissed by the toad prince!"

"Ha ha ha, Razak. I didn't know you were trying to kiss her," Terrence said as a comeback and moved closer to Fllay. "So, how are you feeling?"

"Ugh… Like a Fllay o' Fish" she complained.

Terrence arched his eyebrows. "Glad to see you have some sense of your humor"

"Thank you. That reminds me, why am I here?"

Everyone looked at each other before someone decided to say something intelligent. "Um… because this is the infirmary?"

Fllay stared at the man.

The man fidgeted slightly. "Emm… Because you're based on this ship?" he offered.

"Never mind" Then she gasped slightly and gripped her bed sheet a bit. "How long have I been out?"

Thames, the ship navigator held out seven fingers.

"Seven hours…" She looked thoughtful.

"No, seven days," Terence corrected. "Not counting you waking up and falling back to sleep"

Fllay almost sit in response but Thames pushed her gently back to bed. "Take it easy, Fllay"

"Seven… seven days?" she stuttered. "I… have been unconscious… that long?" Fllay looked at everyone to see them nodding their heads. She tried to get up again but stopped and grimaced. She massaged her temple slowly.

"Are you all right, Fllay?" someone asked.

"Just a small headache," she replied. "I'm okay now. By the way, why are you guys here?"

"Lim caused a short circuit," the man called Matt said. "So many monitors developed malfunction in image and audio streaming connections"

"Yeah. This unit is among the very few still working" someone else said.

A disbelieving look creased her face. "I see. Is that so?"

"Of course. Don't think that we're here because we're visiting you just because Doc says that you'll be awake by today"

A bittersweet smile appeared on Fllay's lips. "Believe me, I don't"

Terrence moved away a bit and watched the injured pilot while she was talking with the others. He felt that something was a bit out of place. Fllay seemed a bit chirper, for someone who has just woken up from a comma. Come to think of it, it was the first time she didn't seem so stoic. Fllay seemed… more _human_.

"What are you thinking about in that genius brain of yours?"

He turned toward Thames. The ship's navigator has noticed his slightly odd behavior. Terrence shook his head. "I'm just speechless with happiness for her recovery"

"Uhumm…"

"That's the truth"

"I'm not saying it isn't, just that there's something else"

He sighed. "The truth is, I've never seen she's so chatty"

"So do I. Jealous that she's talking to other prospective apes?" Thames teased, referring to the fact that some extreme Coordinators were referring to Naturals as such.

"Yes, no… I don't mean the ape part…yes… wait…am I being referred to as ape as well? Aw, what the heck"

She smirked. "Don't worry, the others wouldn't stand a chance"

"Really?"

"You want to hear a secret?"

"Yeah"

Thames scooted to his side and whispered, "So do you"

"Huh?"

Thames began dragging him toward the floor. "I've been dying to have that expensive piece of chocolate being sold at the tuck shop. You're going to be a dashing gentleman and buy it for me as a payment for the information"

As he was led away, Terrence looked at Fllay . _"No, it must be my over imaginative mind. Yes, that must be it. That would explain why I think her grey eyes were a bit darker than the last time"_

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**Author's note (1 April 2006)**

1. Hi, sorry the long lag time before updating, but I figure out that for March, I've already updated two chapters on 28th February. By the way, according to the stats, it seemed to me that there has been a big difference in views between the two chapters. I'm assuming that most of viewers just jump from chapter 1 to the newest before going back a bit, but in case you miss it, the fight at the mountain range is two chapters long, being chapter 18 and 19

2. You may notice that the mobile suit, ship and weapon stats have been combined. I have received a suggestion to do it and decided that it's better to combine them. So here you are, an even cleaner chapters.

3. The expression 'Like a Fllay o' Fish (sounds like Mc Donald's fillet of fish) is an adapted of an excellent quip I borrowed (without permission as of now. Don't kill me, but I just have to have it in this chapter!) from BluSakura, in her 'Becoming an angel' fiction. Funnily, when I started Fallen Angel, I just borrowed two names that I like, "Becoming an angel" and "My Fallen Star"(My Fallen Star is the title of the drawing Kira drew of Flay in another Flay fic by v4n3s5aCH4N titled "Let the love begin"). When you combine these two, you'll have "Become my fallen angel". But that title was too long. Then I had it reduced to "My Fallen Angel". Then I reduced it to Fallen Angel (I keep hearing that infernal tune, 'My little pony' playing inside my head over and over when I look at the title). I just hope that they aren't mad by this revelation though.

4. I may update the chapters of schedule off my time schedule (early and middle of the month) because I want to get the subsequent fight right. Also, I've been trying to please my inner spirit guide muse ego who keeps telling me to write about an AU. But don't worry. This story (if I complete it) will be quite short with an open ending (meaning, once I finished Fallen Angel, I can just pick up and continue on the story). However, I'm not planning to have matchups in the story (too short of a time for what I'm planning). Look out for further announcement in the the next chapter.

5. Sigh. I just noticed that Scented Feather has left While I wish her the best, I wish she would leave her complete story (or stories) online. I always use her fiction "The sound of snow falling" (If memory serve me right ) as a yard stick on interaction in this story.

6. Minor corrections has been carried out on this chapter


	21. Pawns in Gilbert's game

Enishi looked at the people assembled inside the room. He knew Wilhelm who sat next to him, Elizabeth, Dorothy and Terrence, but only recognized the other two as being involved in running the base. He wondered why the six of them were called by Barzhakov. Although he was working with them as for the moment, he couldn't be counted as being one of them. He was about when to ask the reason they were called when Terrence moaned in boredom.

"Damn that old man! Can't he go fill his lung with toxic waste after the meeting?"

"And I still have tones of things to do," one of the base officers, a woman by the name of Valentina chipped in. Enishi was told by Terrence that she was the base commander and acts as the person in charge whenever Barzhakov was not around.

"Yeah, and we still don't know where Machieve is," the other, whom Enishi heard Wilhelm fondly referred to as 'Sparky', complained. When asked why, he replied that man's name was quite hard to pronounce. Besides, the nickname suited him as the man was in charge of the Sukhoi-Gurevich Bureau.

"That's strange, Sparky," Terrence said. "How long has he been missing?"

"Four days," Valentina replied.

"Maybe he got lost somewhere in the desert and died," Wilhelm suggested

"Amen," Elizabeth said simply. "I don't really care for him, anyway"

"What's up with you not liking him, anyway?" Sparky asked.

"Don't know, this is what I normally categorize as a woman's intuition"

Terrence looked at his watch impatiently. "Look, I know that he's solar system class jerk, but he's not the one making Barzakov late. Heck, he's not even in this meeting. And look at the time! That old man is late by two minutes forty five second! Doesn't that old man know how much destruction he's doing to mother Earth with that bad habit of his?"

Wilhelm smiled wanly. "Yeah. For a Blue Cosmos, he does have that weird and twisted philosophy"

"Blue Cosmos?" Enishi asked slowly. "He's a Blue Cosmos?"

"As blue as the bluest blue film," Sparky replied.

Elizabeth rested her head on her hand, "Maybe this meeting is our monthly meeting"

Enishi swallowed hard. How could he have missed that part? He and other ORB personnel were working with Blue Cosmos, for crying out loud! Body tensed, he kept to himself. He would think about what to do later.

The order opened and Barzhakov strode in. "Good afternoon, everybody"

"Don't good afternoon me," Terrence said, dissatisfied. "It's not good if I have to waste my valuable time while you nicotinize yourself"

The Cherubim's Captain gave him an amused smile. "Actually, I was in the infirmary, visiting her"

Terrence crossed his arms. "Okay, that's forgivable. Good to know that you still have it in your osteoporosis affected bones"

Barzhakov looked around the room. "The atmosphere seems a bit heavy. Did something happen just now?"

"Not that we know of," Wilhelm said offhandedly.

"Is that so," Barzhakov said as his eyes roamed around before finally stopping at Enishi. Upon seeing the look on the man, he sighed. "All right, what did you do to him this time?"

Enishi stood up, his expression stoic. "They said that you're a Blue Cosmos member"

Barzhakov made a quizzical look. "Oh... they did, eh?" he looked at everyone else once more, narrowing his eyes.

"You're not, right?" Enishi asked, a bit of hope leaking through his voice.

"I am a Blue Cosmos member"

Everyone stood and shouted rather spiritedly, "FOR A BLUE AND PURE WORLD"

A blanket of silent tension engulfed the room as Enishi looked at all of them as if they had grown another head on their necks. The whole situation persisted until Terrence couldn't keep his face serious and began to laugh. Soon, the others also broke down and laughed.

"Aha ha ha… you should see your face just now," Elizabeth said at Enishi while wiping a tear off her eye.

"Your expression is so priceless," Sparky added. "But don't worry, we have this on record"

"Yeah. But Wilhelm's face is rather funny when he said too," Terrence said. "I had trouble keeping my face straight when I think about it"

"Me! You're the one who's very spirited just now. And to think that you're a Coordinator" Wilhelm said while clutching his stomach. He smiled at Enishi. "You should have seen Terrence's face when we did this to him. He almost peed in his pants"

"Ha ha ha. That time I was thinking that I had to kill all of you with my superior fighting abilities"

"Your chattering teeth at that time is certainly superior than ours"

The room became animated with jabs and banter. Enishi blinked before regaining his composure. Such a weird company to be in.

"All right, settle down everybody. Jokes over" Barzhakov said. Turning toward Enishi, he asked, "You don't really know about history much do you?"

"I don't understand"

"Let me tell you something," Barzhakov said while gesturing toward everyone else, "We are members of Blue Cosmos" When he saw that Enishi's face changed, he held up his hand. "Don't you know that Blue Cosmos is an environmental pressure group?"

"Yes, but in CE 15…"

"Yes, yes, we know about that" Barzhakov said, cutting him off. "Blue Cosmos got mad when Glenn revealed his secret and did a Coordinators killing spree. It's in history text all over the world. But what was not mentioned is that at that time, Blue Cosmos was split into two. The radicals wanted to exterminate Coordinators who were unnatural beings while the moderates, who didn't like the fact that their group was being used as a political tool. So in the end, they split up; one group orchestrated hate campaign against Coordinators, while the other wage campaigns against nations like your country and Scandinavian Kingdom that hunt and kill whales for food. So, here's a quiz; which one is more prominent?"

"The Blue Cosmos that promotes hate against Coordinators will be more prominent," Enishi answered.

"So, thanks to few LOGOS members who infiltrated our group, we are known as world class terrorist organization, and not the nature and peace loving group. Sadly, our group has to change our name so that we wouldn't be associated with those murderers. That's an irony"

"Then why does an environmental group getting involved with this current war?"

Barzhakov sighed "I know this may sound as if we're just a bunch of hypocrites but the reason why we fight is so that we can help end the war faster. That way, our mother Earth and the PLANTs wouldn't be polluted and have their resources strained to produce machinery of wars. But admittedly, even sometimes I wonder what the hell are we thinking, getting involved"

Enishi was awed by the speech and was about to say something before 'Sparky' beat him to it, "That sounds so touching, Captain. Sniff, sniff. My heart bleeds after hearing you deliver that same speech, time after time"

"Shut up, unless you'd rather be assigned to sentry duty" Barzhakov told him off before turning toward Enishi. "Don't worry about it. The others in this room aren't Blue Cosmos; I'm the only member here. There's no pressure to join. In fact, it doesn't matter, as I believe that we all care for our planet"

The officer from ORB nodded.

He clasped his hands. "All right, let's begin our meeting. All right, it's time for our shopping. So if anyone needs anything, please tell us know so that we can plan properly"

"Shopping?" Enishi whispered to Wilhelm.

"We will make a list of needed items such as medicines, spare parts, food and everything else"

"Oh" A thought occurred to him. "Where do you go and buy them?"

Wilhelm grinned. "We go and 'buy' them from various sources. For example, when we need some mobile suits spare parts, there's a Eurasian mobile suit factory just 143 kilometer from here where we can get them wholesale. If we need some medicine, there is a military warehouse stocking up on medicine in Poland"

Enishi didn't get what Wilhelm was insinuating. "But I thought they wouldn't deal with us, with Cherubim being a renegade ship"

"Exactly" Wilhelm agreed, winking.

Not understanding what the other man meant, Enishi turned his attention toward the main discussion. The meeting went on for half an hour, with each of the respective party delivering their list, with the others offering their views. Terrence was the last one to present. "According to an informant, there's an North Atlantic Federation laboratory in Ireland that's currently prototyping a mobile suit using newly developed alloy and improved limb mechanisms," Terrence looked at his notes. "For example, the legs are 8 percent lighter than Fallen's but have 17 percent more power output"

'Sparky' eyes were sparkling as he spoke, "In short, we must get them"

"Yes. I believe we can use it to repair Fallen" Terrence turned toward Barzhakov, "Captain?"

Barzhakov, who seemed preoccupied with something simply nodded.

The door opened and a petite looking staff entered. "Captain, sorry to disturb the meeting, but the device we got from Minerva blinked"

Letting out a long breath, Barzhakov stood, "I'm sorry, but we have to put this meeting on hold. Terrence, Wilhelm and Enishi, follow me" Thinking for a moment, he quickly added, "Valen, get Enishi our uniform"

Valentina grumbled, saying something her being an electron in the outside orbit of an atom.

* * *

Barzhakov, Terrence, Wilhem and Enishi looked at holographic projection coming from the unit in front of them. When Minerva sent the Force Silhouette, Terrence examined everything that was delivered, to ensure that they didn't have any tracking devices. But what he found instead was a box placed in a very obvious location. Tests has been run through on the unit and everything else, to determine whether they have been bugged or not, but the results were negative.

The unit was an encrypted communicator, used only by the highest ranking PLANT officials or ZAFT's special force. Besides providing untraceable communication link, the unit could also project certain images using hologram, allowing greater accessibility of information. The holographic image the four of them were looking at is ZAFT's logo.

Barzhakov said, "Should we open the link?"

"Is the line secure enough?" Enishi asked. "Although the device is well known for its secrecy, it could be tampered with. It would be a risk to use it. By the way, Captain, I appreciate you involving me in this discussion although I'm from ORB military"

"Don't mention it," Barzhakov said.

"As for the line's security," Wilhelm said, "Terrence has connected the unit to our ghost transceivers network. If the ZAFT try to locate our location, they will find 300 possible spots all around the world, leading them on a wild goose chase. And the best thing is our base is not even in the list. To find us, they will need to hack into the system at the real transceiver, which we change every time we use them. So, we're pretty safe as long as we keep our guard"

"That's a good thing," Enish said. "So, should we proceed?"

Barzhakov looked at Enishi to see that he was wearing Alliance uniform and nodded in approval. The latter knew that it wouldn't do for ZAFT to find out about Cherubim carrying ORB's military men. "Very well, Terrence, if you'll carry out the honor"

Terrence switched on the communication link on the device. A pulsing tone and an animated icon on the screen indicated that the connection was being made. Few minutes passed and still no connection. "Maybe we forgot about the time difference and he is sleeping right now"

Then Gilbert's face appeared on the screen. The puzzled look on his face indicated that he was surprised to see Terrence. The look then was replaced by a smile. "Well, well, well. If it's isn't my favorite friend, Mr. Shauzer. What a very pleasant surprise to see that you're alive. I really thought that you died in the explosion"

"Thank you, but I think you already know, seeing Fallen in action a few times"

Gilbert nodded. "True, but still it's good to see that you're willing to contact an old friend" His eyes moved in Barzhakov's direction. "And you're the ship's captain, am I correct?"

Barzhakov nodded, tipping his captain's head.

"Thank you for taking care of Terrence" PLANT's chairman seemed to be searching for something or someone. "And where's Fallen's pilot? I am made to understand that the pilot is a woman"

"Oh, she's not here," Wilhem answered.

"Now then," Barzhakov said while Terrence was checking on his computer whether there was any intrusion, "We understand that you require our service. I suppose Captain Talia has informed you about our reluctance to be involved with ZAFT directly, but perhaps we can see whether an agreement can be arranged, say a contract?"

"I see," Gilbert said contemplatively. "It would be good for ZAFT if you join us, but I suppose we'll have to do with what you're willing to offer" He turned toward Terrence and smiled. "I could have arranged for you to meet Lacus Clyne in person"

"OH! LADY LACUS! I'M HER BIGGEST FAN!" Terrence exclaimed happily and began to dance while doing a very bad imitation of Lacus singing. Upon realizing the stares coming from Barzhakov, Wilhelm and Enishi, he ceased what he was doing and pretended to be nonchalant about it. "It would take more than such petty things to sway me"

Gilbert nodded, smiling. "You're right. I apologize for using a tactic that insults your intelligence"

"So, Mr. Dullindal. Do you have a mission in mind?" Barzhakov asked.

Gilbert was silent for a few seconds. "I do have one. An escort and support mission. I'll be sending the information to you now"

"While waiting for the complete data to download, would you mind telling us in advance what we will be escorting?" Enishi asked.

"Sure" Gilbert replied. "Minerva. The ship is still not operating at its maximum capacity, so we need some support for the mission it will carry out"

"Surely you can assign any of ZAFT's ships to help; are you planning to execute a covert strike?" Barzhakov said, implying the ship's stealth capability.

"No, of course not," Gilbert said. "Minerva is only ship in ZAFT that's capable of atmospheric flight, so in order to provide supports, we will need a ship with a similar capability. In fact, in this mission, we needed your ship to be visible at all time" His eyes were raised. "Ah, I see that the download is finished. Please go through it and contact me if you're interested. If you don't accept it, I will understand, but please keep it a secret"

"We will"

"I hope to see you soon" The screen became blank when he terminated the communication. Then the screen came back to life again, this time displaying the mission objective.

Enishi gasped. "This is…"

Barzhakov instinctively patted his pants' pocket for his pipe that wasn't there. "Well, this is interesting and needed to be looked into"

* * *

Enishi put his two hands inside his trousers' pockets, clearly not very happy with the decision Barzhakov had made. "Why?" he asked.

"Because, we don't know what really happened in the video recording Gilbert sent to us," Wilhelm explained. "We have to know, and the only way to do that is to accept the mission"

"But what happens if the Chairman is right?" Enishi asked.

Barzhakov shook his head slowly. "If that's the case, then I will personally shoot Archangel down"

"Captain Barzhakov!"

"Don't worry. Were going to be there as an escort, not as a mercenary. I think it's fair that we neither help Archangel nor Minerva in their fight. I'm sorry, Enishi but I also can't allow you and your men to interfere" He put a hand on the other man's shoulder. "But, I can give you my guarantee that if anything happens to Archangel, we'll conduct a rescue mission for its crew"

"I suppose we'll have to make do with that" Enishi said, while smiling sadly.

Bazhakov pulled his hand away and turned toward Terrence who had already stood by the communicator. "Well, then. Let's tell him"

Terrence pressed the button on the communicator. A minute later, Gilbert's face came on line. "How pleasant to see all of you again. I believe that you have already reached a decision?"

"Yes. And we have decided that we agree to the mission, as long as it's as stated in the file. But I warned you in advance, if we detect even a very small hint of a trap, we not hesitate to wipe out everything, even Minerva"

Gilbert held up his two hands. "Please don't worry about it. I give you my word that we're not planning anything like that"

"Very well. There's one problem that we have"

"Oh? And what would that be?"

"Fallen. You see, the pilot is an Extended"

Gilbert seemed a bit surprised by the revelation. "I see"

"Due to the previous battle with Freedom, she's experiencing battle trauma and it would take awhile before she would recover"

"Yeah," Terrence added. "As you already know, Fallen is a very tricky to control by a mere pilot for a prolonged period of time. Fallen's pilot wouldn't be ready in time for the mission" It was a bluff, as ZAFT mustn't know that Fallen was effectively damaged. If it knew, there would be no telling what it will plan against Cherubim.

"I'm aware of that," Gilbert said. "But we have the famed Athrun Zala onboard Minerva. Surely he is capable of piloting it. Can you loan or rent Fallen to us? We're more than willing to pay for it. Or maybe you're interested in selling it to us?"

"Of course not," Barzhakov answered. "Don't be ridiculous!"

PLANT's Chairman was smiling softly. "Yes, I suppose that's a ridiculous question to ask. Anyway, we can do without Fallen, so I'll accept your term,"

Barzhakov nodded. "We have a deal"

Gilbert's face disappeared as Barzhakov pressed the end communication button. He turned toward Enishi. "So we will proceed with the mission. Please make sure all of your men are informed of our decision. Please explain it to them as they need to know why we're taking this path"

Enishi nodded slowly and left the room.

Barzhakov looked at him until he was gone before turning to Terrence and Wilhelm. "We're reduced to pawns, aren't we?"

Terrence shrugged. "Gilbert's Pawns. ORB's Angel. So, if we put it together, we'll have Operation : Gilbert's Angel. Somehow that reminds me of that very old pre-Cosmic Era series that I studied in my Classics course in the university. Well, pawns we are. But don't forget, in chess, pawns are potential queens"

"I guess so"

The Coordinator walked toward the door panel and checked the screen to see whether there was anybody outside. "So, since he's already left, mind telling us the real reason for accepting this mission?"

"You were spaced out during the earlier meeting too," Wilhelm said.

Barzhakov sighed. "I don't know why, but I've been feeling uneasy these few days. My gut tells me that something bad is about to happen to us unless we accept the mission. I know that sounds weird…"

Terrence stopped him. "That's okay. I for one, trust your hunch"

"Me too," Wilhelm said.

"Thanks. That reminds me. I have to have a private discussion with Valentina. See you later"

* * *

1

* * *

**Author's note (11 April 2006)**

1. I know this is a bit early for my release, but I hope all of you don't mind.

2. Now, some of you may be wondering why in the world I'm making Barzhakov a Blue Cosmos. Reason? I feel like doing it. But the real reason is stated underneath. Don't read if you're not sure you will like it. It has something to do with Gundam Seed and Gundam Seed Destiny being based on real world.

3. This chapter is conceived in a moment of madness. That's why it's peppered with some strange moments. Sorry, but this chapter is as weird as it can get. Beginning with the next one, it'll be serious as the next phase in the story starts.

4. BCT-01 would be published in a few days time. It is an AU, and would be different from Fallen Angel, although it would have many familiar characters, including Flay, Kira, Lacus, Creuset, etc. Do expect a bit of OOC with the story as the circumstances are different. As a teaser (as well as padding in case you don't want to accidentally read about my observation of Gundam Seed and Gundam Seed Destiny), a small part of it is included below. Note that I may remove it later.

* * *

**BCT-01 Stellar**

Seated on her seat, the captain's seat, the newly promoted Captain Flay Allster almost laughed in bitter irony. Her father would have rolled in his graveyard is he knew that his once girlish and vogue daughter now commands her own ship. _No_, she corrected herself. He didn't even have a grave to start with. It was on her tenth birthday those Zodiac-Earth Alliance Force bastards, also known as ZEAF has ensured that the shuttle he was traveling on while on a peace negotiation was utterly destroyed. Since that day, she was raped of her childhood and was faced with the harsh and reality of warfare. Now, even at the age of 19, she sometimes had nightmares about that incident.

She looked around. Everyone on the bridge were around her age, or even younger. Like her, all of them were still wet behind their ears. She reasoned that the only reason she was promoted to Captain instead of them was because of her father's connections. According to what she learned in the academy, everyone including herself was not qualified to be involved in such as risky mission that they will undertake. But the war dictates that the most expendable has to be sent on an impossible mission, and they were at the bottom of the food chain. Flay has questioned the sanity of her superiors for issuing that order, and she was told that the fate of the colonies depended on the success of her mission. Flay thought absently about the disc inside her room that Cagalli has to open in case she dies.

"Neumann, how's the preparation?" _In the same batch back in the academy. Briefly assigned to another team. Court martialed for maneuvering a rescue ship through the debris belt despite the order not to do so. The ship was unscathed and the rescue mission was completed successfully._

"I'm going through the network check," Neumann answered as he looked at the screen in front of him.

At least the bigwigs were a bit honest in their intention to ensure the plan could succeed. The ship she and her crew were assigned to was the most sophisticated ship ever rolled out of the Blue Cosmos' Heliopolis ship foundry. Four hundred meters long, equipped with an array of offensive and defensive weaponry, it is augmented with plasma field generation. Plus, it was fitted with a plasma generation system. Codenamed named Shadow Cloak, it would greatly reduce the ship's radar signature. However, the ship would still be visible to optical detection; in fact the heat generated by the system made it more visible to IR sensors.

With a very advanced jamming system; it was hoped that the ship could make its way into the heart of enemy base before carrying a very important sabotage mission. However, she wished that she could have brought more mobile suits onboard. To be fair, Blue Cosmos has assigned the newest mobile suits to the ship, but she still didn't feel that secure. Call it inferiority complex, but she rather be captaining Gondswana, that behemoth of a carrier. With the capability to carry more than 400 mobile suits compared to that ship's meager 15, she would have felt safe enough to sleep in peace. Probably.

* * *

end here

* * *

1

* * *

**Why Blue Cosmos? **

Easy. You know that Gundam Seed and Gundam Seed Destiny are based on 'real world', right?

**_So, a simple explanation is in order. Note the following facts._**

a) Remember that George Clenn found Evident 01 ( I'm too lazy to check the name, but you can search in Wikipedia) that look like a whale? The discovery caused quantum leap in the perspective of humankind.

b) Blue Cosmos is the evil organization (in GS and GSD)

c) Apart from ORB and Scandinavian countries that promote peace, all other countries are involved in the war.

d) Kira Yamato represent ORB and Lacus Clyne represents Scandinavian Kingdom (remember, her father was born there)

e) Kira is paired with Lacus

f) Fllay's from North Atlantic Federation, the place infested with vile and evile Blue Cosmos. NAF pressured ORB in GSD to join them.

**_Now, see the following real world facts._**

a) There is a treaty banning whale hunting except for scientific purposes as they are low in numbers

b) Blue Cosmos... oppss... sorry... Green Peace has been spoiling some whaling ships from catching whales. :-p

c) Except for Japan and Norway, almost all countries support the whale banning treaty (if anyone of you is from any of these two countries, I'm sorry, but this is a fact and I look at it objectively)

d) Orb are mostly populated with people with Japanese sounding name, have Japanese sounding mobile suit and ships, while Scandinavian Kingdom includes Norway but doesn't include Denmark (I'm sure about the Norway, but aren't sure about Denmark's inclusion)

e) Japan and Norway are against total ban on whale hunting. (again, look at this objectively, people)

f) United States, along with United Kingdom and other countries have been prodding Japan and Norway to stop whaling.

Do you see the similarities? I believe this is one of the reasons why Flay wasn't intended to be together with Kira and instead being doomed to be the so-called bitch.


	22. Battle of Atlantic

Gilbert smiled as the screen in front of him displayed ZAFT's logo, signaling that the communication has been terminated. "Well, the whole thing starts from now on" He turn his gaze toward a silhouette seated in front of him. "Pretty interesting plan, don't you think?"

The figure, clearly a man nodded. "I've never thought that ZAFT's Chairman is a very wily man"

Gilbert rose from his table and walked to the liquor cabinet and poured some champagne for him and his guest. He then handed a glass to the man. "All thanks to you, my plan will go on quite smoothly. A toast to an everlasting peace"

The man raised his glass, following Gilbert's lead.

After taking a sip, Gilbert continued, "But to tell you honestly, I am surprised to see you arrive here yesterday. But, I welcome anyone who's willing to work toward ending this war as soon as possible"

"That's why I go straight to you"

"But you could have gone to other party"

"I know ZAFT will value my information more"

"You're right," Gilbert laughed. It was left unsaid but understood by both of them that ZAFT paid a lot for the information the man gave.

The man moved his glass slowly, airing his champagne. "So, what now?"

Gilbert pressed a button on the table and a projection of Earth filled the middle of the room. At Atlantic Ocean, there were green and red triangles. Most of the green triangles were near the LOGOS headquarters while many of the red triangles were around Carpenteria. Gilbert pointed to a spot where there wasn't any triangle around. "We have moved our submarines around the Atlantic ocean, forming a barrier except for this very small blind spot. Archangel will go along this route, to avoid detection by LOGOS and ZAFT. That's where Minerva will take care of the rest, just like the script I wrote for this"

* * *

Looking at the screens inside the cockpit, Athrun could see that the repair crew has almost finished their modifications on Gaia. The cockpit shook slightly, telling him that the flight unit from Savior has just been attached to Gaia. The FAITH member was told that the modification would enable Gaia to fly, although it wouldn't be as maneuverable as Savior. Also, the mobile suit wouldn't be able transform into its BeCue like form. That wouldn't matter much to Athrun, as he was told that the operation would be at the sea. As he typed on the mobile suit's main computer to calibrate the integrated part into the OS, he briefly wondered why Savior's color was similar to Aegis. He could explain the similarity between the later and Justice; his father has intended the mobile suit for him to pilot. But before he could think more about it, Talia's face appeared. 

"Athrun, are you sure about this?

Pressing few buttons to test the configuration he has set up, he nodded. "Since it has come to this, I just can't stand by and let the things as they are. I have to do it, even if I have to stop them myself"

"I understand"

* * *

A squad of three GOUFs was hovering over a rather calm ocean. One of them was lowering a globe into the ocean while the other two were keeping watch. They were there for more than half an hour, patiently waiting. Then, as if discovering something, the first Gouf turned toward the other two. 

"This is Flight Pele-2, come in, Big Bertha"

A hundred kilometer from the place, an ensign onboard a Bozgorov class submarine listened to the incoming message.

"This is Big Bertha"

"_Passive sonar shows an object at bearing 002 15' North 010 59' West"_

"Size?"

"_Seems like a 350 meter long vessel"_

"Confirmation of the information?"

"_Electromagnetic pulse sensors also show the same thing"_

"Copy that. Confirming the sighting of Archangel. Return for refueling immediately"

"_Roger"_

Back at the first place, the flight of Gouf began to move away from the place.

Meanwhile, three cigar shaped objects were released from Big Bertha, moving to the surface of the sea at high speed. Once they have surfaced, each split open and a slender shaped object was launched from each of them, trailing white smoke as they flew toward their target. When they arrived at the place, the three projectiles reentered the sea.

* * *

Chandra's eyes became as wide as saucers as he pressed his communication earpiece close to his ear. "Captain, incoming torpedoes from 4 o'clock. Quantity, three" 

Murrue's eyes narrowed. She knew that there would be no way Archangel could return to ORB easily after the previous battle. "Neumann, evasion maneuver. Turn to starboard thirty degrees and increase propulsion by three knots. Amagi, release three decoys and prepare the rear tubes with anti torpedoes" Since Archangel's CIWS couldn't be used underwater, four of its rear missiles launchers were modified to be able to fire torpedoes. But the torpedoes were torpedo destroyer, meaning that they could only be used to destroy other torpedoes. Since Archangel only carried a small quantity of them as opposed to decoys, Murrue felt that the weapon should only be fired when it was necessary to do so. "Chandra, what's the distance?"

"Eight thousand"

Everyone waited apprehensively.

"Seven thousand five hundred"

"Amagi, prepare for to fire the decoys at six thousand"

"Seven thousand…" Few seconds later, "Six thousand five hundred"

Murrue wiped a lone sweat trickling down her forehead.

"Six thousand"

"Launch the decoys," she commanded.

Amagi pressed the button and everyone could listen to the sound of the decoys moving out of Archangel and moving slowly toward the incoming torpedoes.

The bridge became silent, only the sounds of computer fans humming could be heard.

Then, Chandra broke the silence spell by announcing. "We have confirmed explosions of one… two torpedoes. Captain, the third one is still coming at us"

"NEUMANN! FIFTY FIVE DEGRESS HARD PORT, NOW!"

Archangel turned tightly to the right, making its right missile tubes facing toward the remaining torpedoes.

"TUBE ONE, TWO, FIRE!"

"Firing," Amagi said as he pressed the button.

"Turn to starboard fifteen degrees. Blow out ballast tanks one and three, increase the speed to twenty five knots"

As the ship began to descend slightly, Murrue silently prayed that the torpedo would be destroyed. Unlike ZAFT's dedicated submarines, Archangel wasn't built for a full underwater warfare. Although it's true that theoretically the laminated armor on the ship would somewhat protect it a bit from explosion, but there was no telling that was the case until it could be proven. Murrue wasn't the one to take such a risk. "The torpedo?"

"Four thousand and eight hundred. Projected interception in ten seconds. Eight…seven… six…five… four… three… two… one… they missed!"

"Damn it, reloading the missile tubes would take some time. Neumann, blow out ballast number two and four. Amagi, prepare for the decoys to fire at the torpedo again"

Cagalli interrupted. "But the decoy's speed is to slow and by the time the decoys arrived at the spot, the torpedo would have left the area"

"Then what do you suggest?"

"Just release the decoy when it gets close enough and then we change Archangel's bearing to move away"

"Four thousand meters" Chandra called out.

"But wouldn't it be risky?" Murrue asked. "It could just ignore the decoy and go straight to us. Why don't we just release it now and move away?"

"I recently read that ZAFT's torpedoes are able to distinguish between sonar reading of a decoy and a ship. By releasing it when the torpedo is nearer, our own sonar and the decoy's will juxtapose, reducing the torpedo's accuracy to do so. I just hope that the explosion wouldn't take damage this ship"

"Three thousand meters"

Murrue sighed. "Very well, we'll go along with your idea" She then turned toward Chandra. "Begin countdown, in two hundreds"

He nodded. "Twenty six… twenty four…"

Mirrilia offered a prayer before clasping her hands behind her neck and lowering her head as close as possible to her console.

"Twenty two… twenty…"

"Neumann, prepare to increase the propulsion to the max when the decoy is released"

"Eighteen… sixteen…"

"Yes, Captain"

"Fourteeen… twelve…"

"Release the decoy now! Turn the ship hard left!"

A few seconds later, the ship shook violently as the missile collided with the decoy and exploded, sending shockwave all around the area. After the whole deal ended, Murrue quickly pressed the communication button. "Damage check!" She then said to Neumann, "See whether you can run some diagnosis from here"

A few seconds later, Kojiro Murdoch appeared on the screen. "Captain, you have to bring this tub up for repair. The ballast tank one, three, five, seven and ten are heavily damaged and are leaking. Main engine one, two, four and eight need to be checked"

"But we'll be open to enemy attacks. We'll have to manage with the auxiliary ballasts and propulsion"

"That's the problem. The auxiliaries are also taking water faster than we can pump them out. Ten minutes more and this ship will sink to the bottom and wouldn't be able to move. You know that this ship wasn't designed for underwater"

In there lied the problem. Since Archangel's original designers didn't plan for the ship to be operational underwater, the subsequent modifications on the ship couldn't make the ship as hardy or fast as dedicated ZAFT's and Earth Alliance's submarines. "How long it would take for you to repair them?"

"An hour and a half tops, maybe thirty to forty with the help of few mobile suits. But if we're going to use them, we'll be unable to fit them with any weapon. Apart from that, the repair is only a temporary gap until we return to ORB"

"That would be okay" a male voice answered as the door to the bridge opened, revealing a somber looking Kira. "I and the others will station guard"

"Okay, if you say so," Murdoch said as his face disappeared.

Murrue gave Kira a concerned look, but it was Cagalli who speak up, "Are you sure you're fine with this?" She became worried when he became quiet since the fight at the mountain range. The blonde representative of ORB wished that Lacus was with them; she would know what to say to motivate Kira.

Kira smiled wanly. "Don't worry about it. I'm sure that if she's in this position, she would have done the same thing"

She wanted to ask why Kira was saying something weird. It was as if Lacus pilots a mobile suit. But she pushed her question off her mind as they had bigger concern to think about. "Okay, then"

Murrue nodded before issuing her order, "Blow out all the ballast tanks. Get repair team ready. We will begin the patching jobs as soon as this ship surfaced"

* * *

"THIS IS BIG BERTHA CALLING MINERVA" 

"Coming, Big Bertha"

"ANGEL HAS BEEN SPOTTED IN OUR PATROL RADIUS AND CURRENTLY ON SURFACE. WE AND NORGAY WILL MOVE IN AND ENGAGE IT TO BUY YOU SOME TIME UNTIL YOU ARRIVE"

"Very well, but be careful"

"UNDERSTOOD"

Talia stood from her seat. "Let's get this over with. Meyrin, tell Athrun to prepare for launch"

* * *

Despite the screen's small size and Shinn wearing a helmet, Athrun could see the look of arrogance on the former. "Don't worry, _Commander _Athrun, I would make sure that nothing happen to you," Shin said, emphasizing the word commander for added effects. He has stopped referring Athrun as 'Commander' since Athrun asked him and the others to stop doing so when Heine first joined the ship. It was apparent that Shinn was questioning Athrun's combat capability despite the later being a FAITH member. 

Athrun was in no mood to tolerate neither the insubordination nor the sarcasm. "For an arrogant wet behind ear kid whose mobile suit was sliced and diced, you sure have some guts talking like that"

"Yeah, but at least my mobile suit survive unscathed"

"Correction, only Core Splendor survived. The reason why Impulse is operational is because it has many spare parts; the Chaos legs it's using are proofs"

"Yeah, yeah"

"Either you stopped your insolence or I'll have you thrown into the brig so fast that you'll wonder whether the seatbelt has been unfastened. Do you understand?"

Shinn's face showed that he was surprised by the severe reprimand from someone he has tagged as having a weak spine. "…er… Yes. Sorry about my behavior"

"Good. Now listen up. We will confront Freedom and try to negotiate its surrender"

"BUT…"

"No buts. Remember, this is not a kindergarten where you can whine incessantly"

Shinn muttered slowly so that it couldn't be picked up by the communication unit's sensitive microphone.

"In case we're unable to convince him to surrender, then we will shoot him down"

Shinn perked up upon hearing that. "Frankly speaking, I don't think he will surrender easily"

"I'll be the judge of that. I have a possible strategy to disable his mobile suit"

"Disable and not destroy? Forgive me for saying so Athrun, but aren't you letting your emotion cloud your thinking?"

"Oh, playing Freud now, aren't you? Perhaps you're right. But you know what? So do you. I know how close you were with that blonde pilot"

"Her name's Stellar," Shinn said through gritted teeth.

"Stellar," he corrected. "You should never allow your personal vendetta to interfere with your job"

Shinn snorted. "Easier said than done. You haven't in my position, so you can say all you want"

Athrun was silent for a moment before continuing slowly. "Actually I do. I lost one of my closest friends to an EA pilot"

"Let me guess, you maintained your cool?" Shinn asked sarcastically.

He chuckled nostalgically at the barbed comment. "Actually, I got very mad. The next time I met him; I engaged my mobile suit's self destruct mechanism and grabbed his mobile suit"

"And he died?" The question had a curious tone to it.

"No. but one of his closest friends died by my hands"

"So what? You don't care about the pilot"

"That EA pilot happens to be one of my best friends _before _the war, Shinn. It's not a simple case of me hating his guts for killing my other buddy"

"What are you trying to say, Athun?" Shinn asked suspiciously.

"How would you feel if you have to kill your friend? Say, maybe Rey. Will it be easy for you to just kill Rey?"

"You mean…"

Athrun looked away. "Despite what he had done, he's still my friend and I still have problems having to shoot him down" He raised his head to look Shinn in the eyes. "But if needed, I will do it"

Shinn was genuinely surprised by the revelation. "I never thought that you know Freedom's pilot personally"

"Yes, I do know him, and I can say that if you think Kira wouldn't target your cockpit then you're making a big mistake" After being silent for a few seconds, he continued, "Like us, he's a soldier and a soldier knows when to stow away his conscience"

"What do you suggest I do then?"

* * *

High above sea, Kira looked down on Archangel. There was two Murasames currently performing some repairs on it. Because of that, it was important for him to be able to keep the ship safe away from ZAFT's mobile suits just like the ZAKU slashing its heat hawk at him. Evading to the mobile suit's left side, Freedom then took the opportunity to sever its right hand. Then, using a technique he had learned from the battle in Berlin, Kira pierced the joint on the ZAKU's left shoulder using Freedom's fingers, instantly crippling its left side. Satisfied that the ZAKU wouldn't be able to fight anymore, he moved away. "How are you doing down there?" 

"Fine," the slight static in the communication couldn't hide Nishigawa's annoyance at being relegated to fixing the ship along with Gou, while the others are fighting above. "We'll try to do our best to repair the ship. But to tell you honestly, the two of us wish we can join you up there, to protect the ship"

"Yeah?" Zachary interrupted as his own Murasame's left foot being blasted away, drastically hampering its ability to transform into jet-like mobile armor. "Well, to tell you honestly, I'd rather be sailing"

"Sir," his wingman's voice cut in. "With all due respect, please watch your own butt while talking" His wingman has destroyed a GOOhn which was aiming at his mobile suit from the sea surface.

"Thanks for wiping my butt clean of that shit"

"Permission to speak freely"

"Ok, granted"

"FUCK YOU, Sir"

"Nah, I'm straight and don't find you attractive" Zachary's sword pierced through the main camera of a GINN before he sever its flight platform.

Kira smiled at the joke. ORB's air force has more share of jokers than its navy and army combined. It was how they cope with the tension. Sometimes, he envied them for being able to face serious situation with humor. Multiple flashes visible from a distance disrupted his train of thought. Enlarging the view, he could see multiple torpedoes being aimed Archangel. Without wasting anytime, he quickly calculated their trajectory and fired all of Freedom's weapons. Multiple balls of fire appeared in the sky, signifying that every missile were destroyed.

* * *

As Freedom and Archangel's Murasames flew by, shooting down ZAFT's mobile suits that tried to attack the ship, on board Big Bertha, which was hiding just outside of Archangel's radar range, military officers were busy processing information on each mobile suit. Various screens were being set up to display the characteristics of Archangel's defending mobile suits.

"Murasame unit one is still operational, with one leg missing," a woman called out.

"Power?" Big Bertha's captain asked.

"Estimated at sixty point eight percent"

"Unit two, fully operational, battery reserve estimated at forty nine point three," another officer said.

The third officer has finished entering data on his console. "Unit three has lost its beam saber, battery at fifty two percent"

"Unit four at thirty eight percent"

The captain nodded. "Very good. Apart from Freedom, the ORB's mobile suits wouldn't last against another wave. So the question now is how do we get rid of that mobile suit" Looking toward the console that was showing Freedom, he asked, "I suppose its power still more than ninety seven point three percent?"

"That's an affirmative," the officer tracking Freedom confirmed.

"So, we shouldn't be too hasty in our attack"

Big Bertha's communication officer called out from her console. "Sir, Norgay asked whether it should launch its mobile suits to assist in the assault on the ship"

"Tell it to wait" As he looked at a triangle with a familiar designation appearing on the radar, the captain smiled. As two small dots appeared in front of the triangle, he said, "Since the main characters have appeared on stage, this will be interesting"

* * *

1

* * *

**Author's note (3 May 2006, appended on 4 May 2006)**

1. Ah, to be back in the internet world, with all the broadband and the wireless. I was going nut for being unable to access the fanfiction website using dial up.

2. Athrun is potrayed as having back bone here (as well as being manipulated), which I personally prefer than the one on GSD. If the only way not to potray him as weenie is by making him a OOC, then so be it. But even then Athrun in this chapter have some problems going against Kira (which is expected out of him)

3. If you noticed, I have removed the 'original' Berlin chapter. While I feel it's a waste not to post it, my inner muse reminded me to keep it clean. But to tell you honestly though, I would like to post the chapters regarding the original battle (that follows the time line in GSD). Any ideas on how should I go about doing this without affecting readibility and causing confusion?

4. I predict this segment (the battle between Archangel and ZAFT) will span around 3-4 chapters. This may seem long, but I really want to potray the fight well. For example, the battle in Berlin spans three chapter and covers urban battle as well as both Kira and Fllay's inner battle. This first chapter, which sets the stage of the battle at an ocean, details the underwater battle. Next chapters will probably detail about some ideas I always wanted to try out, including having more OC battle.

5. In case you reread this chapter, you noticed that Romero has been changed with Chandra. Ah well, I'm not that particular about that bespectacled guy, so I don't really know his name.


	23. Emerald Flame

The computer onboard Freedom had just beeped, confirming that the Gouf on the crosshair has locked on when Kira heard another beep, warning him to move away quickly. A green stream of light passed at the spot where his mobile suit was a split second before. Wondering who had fired at him, Kira looked in the direction where the shot originated. He saw the mobile suit he recognized as Gaia, one of the three stolen by the Earth Alliance. However, Impulse which was standing beside it with its very beam rifle at ready, and the numerous ZAFT mobile suits behind them indicated to Kira that ZAFT has somehow managed to recover it.

But rather than attack, Gaia hovered in place, making Kira arrive at the conclusion that the shot at him was a warning shot. To his surprise, a face he knew personally appeared on the screen.

"This is Athrun Zala of ZAFT's Special Force".

"Athrun?" Kira didn't really expect to see Athrun to be involved again, not when he had crippled the latter's mobile suit severely.

Athrun was looking a bit stern. "Attention, ORB's renegade ship Archangel and pilot of ZAFT's stolen mobile suit Freedom. I am here to negotiate your surrender"

Onboard Archangel, everyone were shocked by the announcement. "Surrender…" Murrue said, trailing off.

"Impossible…" Miriallia uttered. Just a second before that, she had detected two very large energy signature that the computer identified as Minerva and Cherubim. But the sudden appearance by Athrun has alarmed everyone to that fact.

Cagalli felt her eyes stung as waves of disappointment and betrayal swept her heart. "'How…? Why? Why is he doing this?" she asked, struggling to keep her voice even.

"Because he's with ZAFT now, and it's his job," Neumann said from his console quietly. The Archangel's pilot cum navigator wasn't close to Athrun, but even he knew what kind of person Athrun was. "Like us, he's probably doing what he thinks is the right thing to do"

Neumann's observation was correct. Inside his cockpit, Athrun hated himself for having to do it to his own friends, but unless they stop what they were doing, it would be impossible for him to find out whether he was on the right path or not. He looked at Talia's image. "I would like to thank you for giving me this chance to talk to them"

Talia smiled softly. "No, I'm the one who's supposed to thank you. I know that this is hard on you, but you still do it"

Athrun smiled weakly. "Because it would have been harder not to do it"

Before Talia could say anything else, Murrue appeared on the other screen.

Seated on the captain's chair, Murrue mentally prayed that everything would turn out all right in the end. "This is Captain Murrue Ramius of Archangel. We would like to know what you have to say"

Despite knowing in advance who will answer his call, Athrun found himself feeling a bit nervous. "I am here to bring an offer from ZAFT"

* * *

Meanwhile, on Cherubim, Barzhakov was sighing as he and the others listened to Athrun making the announcement. "Who would've thought that Athrun will be facing off his former friends?"

"ARCHANGEL AND FREEDOM HAVE BEEN SPREADING CONFUSION THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE WAR"

"He's still their friends," Terrence commented, standing just behind Barzhakov with his arms crossed. "Well, at least if they want to accept him as a friend after this"

"That reminds me, how about our mobile suits? Are they ready to go?"

"THAT'S WHY ZAFT FINDS IT UNEVITABLE THAT ARCHANGEL AND FREEDOM MUST BE TAKEN OUT OF THE PICTURE"

"At the moment's notice. Also, Marine has already been properly equipped" Terrence looked at Enishi before turning back to Barzhakov.

"SO I, REPRESENTING ZAFT AND THE WORLD WOULD LIKE BOTH ARCHANGEL AND FREEDOM TO SURRENDER"

Barzhakov shook his head while touching his pocket briefly. "Sounds like a rehearsed script. I could almost swear I hear some pleading in his voice"

Wilhelm who was quite all this while said, "It's going to be very hard to watch what will happen without doing anything"

"CAPTAIN TALIA GLADYS OF MINERVA AND I WILL ENSURE THE SAFETY OF EVERYONE IF YOU SURRENDER. IN FACT, WE HAVE ALREADY PROVIDED TRANSPORT PLANES TO SEND ALL OF YOU TO EVERY WHERE YOU WISH TO GO, IF YOU COMPLY AND SURRENDER"

"They can do that?" Enishi asked.

"FAITH members are basically independent of normal chain of command. Since Athrun and probably Captain Talia as well, are higher rank officers, they outrank anyone here, including those submarines we detected," Terrence said while looking at Barzhakov. He has been with the whole lot long enough that Barzhakov was very nervous. The fact that the captain was searching for his pipe told him as much. It was probably due to the talk the captain had with Valentina before. "Their order can only be countermanded by Gil and select few. But it will take some time for the orders to be issued from PLANTS due to the procedures and communication problems. So it seems that Gil is leaving it in their hands"

"How can you be sure about that?" Enishi asked.

"I held a position similar to FAITH. I was what they call an Independent Research Integration Specialist or IRIS for short. That time I can just go to any lab on any PLANT and take control of its management and do anything I want"

"I HOPE THAT YOU WILL MAKE A WISE AND PRUDENT DECISION. WE WOULDN'T LIKE TO FIGHT THE HEROES OF THE SECOND JACHIN DUE WAR, BUT WE WILL DO SO IF YOU LEAVE US NO CHOICE" Athrun said before signing off.

Barzhakov looked at the empty screen for a few seconds before walking toward Sammy who was sitting at the communication console, but stopped halfway. "So, the only thing we can do now is to wait," he said.

To other people on the bridge, it seemed that he was saying about Archangel's decision, but to Terrence, his voice implied that he was referring to something else. Gritting his teeth in frustration, Terrence managed to stop himself from whacking Barzhakov silly and asking him about the secret. Terrence was a sucker for a secret; his curiosity and penchant for finding out about the unknown had almost got him killed a few times.

* * *

Murrue's brows creased as she thought about the offer of amnesty given to them by Athrun.

"Captain?" Amagi asked from his place. "What should we do?"

"Miriallia, where's Minerva?"

"Behind Gaia and other mobile suits"

"It's hovering?"

"No"

The computer magnified the faraway ship and displayed it on the screen. "I see. This means that they're at least negotiating in good faith"

"Captain…"

"Yes, Miriallia?"

"Sensors shows that Cherubim is also present"

"Location?"

"Behind Minerva"

Murrue felt her blood curdled. "Behind? Are they close?"

"Yes"

"Can you get me their energy ouput?"

Miriallia instantly knew what was meant by the question and typed on her console's computer and got the result a few seconds later. "Hovering. Energy weapons seem to be undeployed"

"So, we can't count on them to help us… or rather, we can count them as our enemy… this is bad. Anyway, how's the repair progress?"

"Ten more minutes, maybe fifteen"

"That's good"

"However, ZAFT must have realized about this fact as well" Chandra commented. "They wouldn't wait for us to finish the job"

"That's true" Murrue drummed her fingers on the chair's armrest. "Even if we can submerge right now, ZAFT can just fire their torpedoes just like before. In fact, it's more dangerous for us to try escaping via submerging. Now, if we want to escape, how do we get pass them?"

"Sorry," Cagalli said.

"Why?" Murrue asked her.

"Because it's Athrun who's threatening us" Cagalli said forlornly. "Athrun, the one who was with us during the last war. This isn't supposed to happen"

"But I also remembered him trying to sink this ship before that" the wise captain said, smiling.

"Exactly! That… eh?" Cagalli became perplexed as she realized that she was contradicting herself and it shows on her face. "What I mean… he…"

"Don't worry about it. In fact, I'm grateful to him. Think about it. If it was somebody else, that somebody might simply attack us rather than give us the chance to surrender"

"What now, Captain?" Cagalli asked apprehensively.

Murrue was about to open her mouth to answer when Miriallia notified the incoming transmission.

* * *

Only a few minutes have passed but to Athrun, he felt that it was the longest moment in his life. _"Please… please accept"_ He thought to himself. He really hoped that somehow Kira would persuade Murrue and others to surrender.

A beep startled him.

"THIS IS THE CAPTAIN OF ARCHANGEL, MURRUE RAMIUS. WE APPRECIATE YOUR OFFER. THANK YOU. UNFORTUNATELY, WE'RE UNABLE TO ACCEPT YOUR OFFER". RIGHT NOW WE STILL HAVE SOME WORK TO DO. MAYBE WE'RE OUT OF PLACE IN THE WORLD WHICH IS ABOUT TO BE DEVIDED BETWEEN EARTH ALLIANCE AND PLANT AGAIN. BUT THAT'S EXACTLY WHY WE CAN'T STOP HERE. IF IT'S POSSIBLE, PLEASE ALLOW US TO LEAVE"

"_No. You're making a big mistake"_ Quickly, Athrun's fingers sprinted on the communication control buttons, trying to establish a private link between him and Kira's Freedom. He was slightly relieved when he saw Kira's face. "Kira"

"Athrun"

"Why is Murrue making that decision!" he asked, almost demanding. "Doesn't she know what will happen if she said that?"

"I think that she's already aware of that," Kira said quietly.

"Then all the reason to end that foolishness. Kira, you must persuade her to rethink the decision. I will negotiate for extra time with Minerva's Captain"

"I don't think that will work, because I was one who urged her not to accept"

Athrun couldn't believe his ears. "You what!"

Kira looked away for a moment. "I'm sorry, but there's no way we can accept it"

"Even knowing that ZAFT will pound the ship to oblivion?"

Kira's calm eyes showed steely resolved in them. "Yes. But that will not happen. I and the others will protect the ship and would let not a single ZAFT weapon or mobile suit to come close" He was silent for a while. "Even… even it's you"

"Kira…"

Lowering his head, he said, "I will protect it till the end"

"Kira! Listen to me! Can't you see that what I am doing is to protect everyone's life?"

"Then you should join us instead"

Athrun shook his head. "No"

It was Kira's turn to be surprised. "No?"

"Besides everyone onboard Archangel, I also have to protect Minerva. Captain Talia and the others believe in me, so I wouldn't turn my back on them. You have said that Cagalli was crying at that battle. I admit that you're right. However, the families of those ZAFT soldiers killed in the mountain range, they were crying too. I saw the recording of their burial"

Kira gasped. "You knew about that…"

"Yes. I understand that at that time it was necessary for you and the others to do what you did. That's why I'm imploring… no… I'm begging you to surrender"

"I'm sorry, but I can't do that"

"Please"

"I'm sorry, but no"

Athrun closed his eyes. "Is there anyway for me to get all of you to change your mind?"

"I'm afraid not"

Shaking his head slowly, he said, "Captain Talia was right about all of you. Forgive me, Kira, but you leave me with no choice" Gaia brought out its twin sabers and gestured toward the Murasames. All ZAFT's mobile suits except it and Impulse began their attacks on the mobile suits.

As the SEED inside Kira burst, he quickly aligned Freedom's weapons and fired at the attackers, disabling seven of them. He would have continued with his counterattack, but Impulse fired its own beam rifle at Freedom, forcing him to abandon the thought.

Freedom zigzagged across the sky to avoid Impulse shots while the latter has engaged its thrusters at maximum to give chase. Inside Impulse, Shinn was fuming as his hand on the throttle stick moved at a frantic pace. "Damn it, Freedom! Come and face me like a real man" As if hearing what he said, Freedom's pilot suddenly stopped and instead moved toward Impulse at high speed. Surprised, Shinn quickly brought up Impulse hands to cover its head. He had remembered about Rey saying that Freedom would only target non-lethal areas such as the joints and the main camera located on the head. However, that wasn't what Kira was thinking. A gigantic leg planted itself in the middle of Impulse's chest, shaking the whole cockpit violently. The tremor disoriented Shinn and gave Freedom ample time to target its bazookas. Impulse was further rocked by a large blast and began its freefall.

"Shinn, are you all right?" Athrun called out.

"Nggh… Damn that bastard!" Shinn cursed as he grappled with the control. "Damn! Damn! DAMN YOU!" Driven by anger and revenge, Shinn activated his own SEED ability. Impulse finally managed to stabilize itself and began chasing toward Freedom again.

"Shinn! Don't be reckless"

Athrun's warning was lost to Shinn as he gritted his teeth in anger. "Damn you Freedom! Acting almighty and cocky! I'll show you" When it got close enough to Freedom, Impulse moved its body as if it was about to slash. This caused Freedom to hold up its own sword in front of it to block the attack. Instead, Impulse threw its shield at Freedom. Realizing that the slashing attack was a ruse, Freedom moved away. But at that time, Shinn quickly calculated the angle on the shield and fired its beam rifle. The beam hit the shield and was deflected. It then hit Freedom's right foot, destroying it. "HA! Eat that, bastard! That you will teach you to mess with me"

But Shinn's gloating was short lived when both its legs were taken out of the commission by Freedom shoulder cannons. Angered by what happened, Shinn kept firing at Freedom, but the shots were in vain. Freedom moved closer and closer until it was only a few meters from the legless Impulse.

Inside Freedom, a very calm Kira was maneuvering his mobile suit into a strike position. _"Forgive me, Impulse's pilot, but there's no way I'm going to let you off that easily. I saw how you fight and think that you'll be a danger to everyone onboard Archangel"_ He pressed the button that would send the signal his mobile suit to execute a downward slash on Impulse, guaranteeing the destruction of ZAFT's mobile suit. As the strike was too sudden, Impulse couldn't react in time to stop the thrust. _"I'm sorry, Impulse. Sayonara"_

A very loud metallic sound echoed through out the area. Instead of Impulse facing it, Freedom was face to face with Gaia. The black mobile suit has managed to arrive on time kick Impulse away while blocking Freedom's slash with its own sword. Kira was surprised at the intervention. "Athrun…"

Eyes closed, Athrun almost choked when he said, "I suppose that this can't be avoided, right Kira? You're trying to kill off people I know, my friend, just like you did before"

"Athrun… I…"

"I understand" Athrun smiled bitterly. "It has become quite obvious that both of us are hard headed and wouldn't give in" He sighed. "Very well, Kira. If saving the lives of those onboard Archangel can only be achieved by defeating you," he opened his eyes to revealed that the pupils were dilated, a sign that he has entered SEED mode as well, "then, I will do it"

* * *

"Captain Barzhakov," Sammy called from her console.

"What is it? Do we have a signal from them?"

Sammy's face showed sign on confusion as she wasn't sure what he meant. "Er… Merlin has reported that it has finished its job" Merlin was an AWACS mobile suit, one of the four mobile prototype mobile suits built by Sukhoi-Gurevich Bureau at Cherubim's base. While they weren't as powerful as Fallen, the fact that they were nuclear powered gave them an edge over normal mobile suits.

"Good, I guess. Have it transmitted the locations to the base?"

"Yes"

Barzhakov nodded. "That means we only have one less worry on our mind"

"It's quite strange for Minerva not to attack Archangel directly," Wilhelm commented as they looked at the ongoing battle.

"Probably because of Athrun," Terrence said. "Maybe he still sees that Archangel can still be saved if he defeats Freedom"

As the main screen shows that Gaia firing at Freedom's head while Freedom tried to slash its flight pack, Barzhakov commented, "But they're still trying to take down each other without killing"

"That's what makes it more dangerous for Archangel to remain in its current position" Wilhelm commented.

"Sir, I know that we're not supposed to interfere, but can't we warn Archangel about that?" Enishi asked from his CIC console.

Barzhakov crossed his arms. "That will be pointless as they already realized that they don't exactly have anywhere to escape to. They're trapped. Maybe if Freedom's pilot wants, he can just run away. But we know that the legendary Yamato wouldn't ditch out on his friends"

* * *

Zachary executed a loop to evade the missiles that were coming toward him, releasing flares to confuse the missiles' heat sensors. But the missiles kept coming. "Those techies at ZAFT are sure troublesome. Must they equip their missiles with secondary detection system?" He tried another evasion move but they were futile. When the missiles became close enough, he fired his Murasame's CIWS, hoping that all of them were destroyed. Multiple explosions calmed his fear, even for a moment. "Hey, you guys! How's the situation?" he asked his wingmen.

"Not good sir"

One Murasame hit a Zaku's head with its beam rifle before smashing Zaku's hand with its shield, causing the ZAFT's mobile suit to drop its weapon. The Murasame then released its own rifle to grab and use it to fire at Zaku's cockpit. "Ammo depleted with battery going on to yellow"

The other Murasame, the section leader of the first flight has had its left hand severed by an overzealous Gouf. "Quick chattering and give me a hand here, guys!"

"Is that a pun?" Zachary asked as he emptied his beam rifle's content on the enemy mobile suit.

"I don't know, but if you didn't help just now, I'm a goner"

"Anyway, go and fill up" He said, telling the other flight leader to refuel and rearm.

"But you need me here"

Looking at the flashing warning light on his console Zachary said, "Yeah, fully armed. You go with McPherson. Vishnu and I'll try to hold them,"

"Are you crazy?" McPherson asked. "Your own unit is almost running on fumes"

"Maybe, but four of us trying to hold them without ammo and energy? That's stupid. I'd rather be crazy. Now go! We don't have time to waste"

As the two Murasames approached Archangel for landing, Zachary muttered. "Now, how am I going to keep myself from being blown up?"

* * *

**1**

**

* * *

**

**Author's note (14 May 2006)**

1. Although I like reviews, what I like better is the fact that some of my readers find out about my hidden messages. Heck, some of the feedbacks are so good that I go, 'Oh my god. Now I understand why I write it that way' or 'Damn! I haven't thought about that!' One of the notable ones is the fact that someone correctly guess about Kira fighting for the future, Shinn fighting for the past while Fllay fights for the present. That fact it is one of the many guidelines I used to chart this story. So, to all those who managed to read beneath the lines, I just want to say, "Congratulations!"

2. Of course, that said, Athrun neither fight for the past, the present nor the future. He fights for justice. That's why he decided to fight Kira as shown in this chapter, albeit very reluctantly. In my opinion, Athrun (ignore the idiotic version that appear after his mobile suit was put out of commission by Kira in GSD) has a very strong principle. So, that's why he was willing to fight Kira once he realized that there was no other way to get save Archangel AND Minerva without sacrificing something else.

3. When I write this story, as well as my other stories, I normally tried to view the scenes in my mind before transferring it to the word processor. And, without any intention of boasting, the scene where Athrun opened his eyes to show that he has entered his SEED mode is one of the best visual scenes I've ever pictured. I don't know how to say it, but it seems so… cool!


	24. Forced Hand

A lone mobile suit was standing in the middle of a dessert, camouflaged by the darkness of the nighttime and the dessert's surrounding. Its shape was almost similar to a Windam, except for its head, which was a bit slender. There was an Akula fragmentation missile mounted on each shoulder. Overall, the mobile suit looked like a giant metallic ninja. Inside the cockpit, a pigtailed woman, who face was distinctly Asian was giggling as she read a manga being displayed on a display tablet. Then a man's face appeared on the screen to her left and said. "Will you stop reading comic while on duty, Yuri? You're not doing your job"

Yuri looked up from the manga she was reading and eyed the man critically. "How about if you _shut up _your trap first? In case you haven't noticed, Robert, I have been on duty for more than five hours without resting. If you think I'm going to stare at the main screen all the time without falling asleep or doing something else, you must be joking"

"Yeah, I admit it can be very boring, but you still have to do it. And while we're at it, you can also stop drinking and eating inside your mobile suit. The last time you were on duty, the maintenance complained of having to clean chocolate smudges from the screens and controls"

Yuri casually brought up a chocolate bar from her pocket. She then casually removed the packaging and proceeded to eat the chocolate, much to Robert's chagrin. "All right, next time I'll share my ration with them. That will save them from having to lick the chocolate from the controls"

"That's not my point. What I mean is that you're not supposed to treat Midnight as if it's your personal mobile suit"

"It is assigned to me, so it's mine"

"Gee, in that case, why don't you mark it by pissing inside the cockpit? Then we will really know that it belongs to you" Robert said sarcastically, referring to the way some animals mark their territories.

Yuri's face became serious as she nibbled on the chocolate. "Well… If that's the only way to get you off my case…"

Robert panicked upon hearing her reply. "I was joking"

"If you think that I'm stupid enough to do something like that, you're an asshole, Robert"

"Well, _excuse _me, princess"

"You're excused," Yuri said faking a royal accent.

Both of them laughed.

"So what do you think the ol' man is doing right now?" Robert asked when both had stopped laughing.

"Not sure, probably skewering Archangel right now"

"I don't think it will be that easy. After all, it's dark"

"In Atlantic Ocean, it's still day time, Robert"

"Yea? I forgot about that"

Yuri was about to retort a reply when some movements on the main screen caught her eyes. She pressed the trigger button to launch flares to illuminate the whole area. What she saw shocked her. "ROBERT! CONDITION RED! ALERT THE BASE"

"What happened?"

"Windams and some CATs" she replied hurriedly. She would have noticed them earlier if they were flying. It was obvious that the mobile suits were going to execute a surprise attack on the base she was guarding.

"CATs! DAMN!" The fact that there were Composite Armanent Tactical mobile suits, also known as Hyperion, among the intruders meant that the Eurasian army was attacking them. Although mobile suits development rendered them obsolete compared to newer mobile suits such as one Yuri was piloting, the fact remains that their Armure Luminaire lightwave shield system made them harder to destroy than the Windams. In worse case scenario, the normally cash-strapped Eurasian army probably upgraded them as well, making them exponentially dangerous as well. Robert pressed the red button on his console and sirens blared throughout the whole base "How did they find out about our base!"

"I'll be sure to ask them nicely for the answer" Yuri said as Midnight launched its Akula missiles. A few seconds later, the missile burst in midair and rained fragmentation explosives on the advancing intruders. When the explosions subsided, she could see that the missiles have destroyed many mobile suits. However, there were still a lot of survivors, including the CATs. "Shit, I'm screwed"

As the base's defense turrets appeared from their hiding place and started firing at the intruders, Yuri quickly uttered a Shinto prayer before firing Midnight' very own MPG-5Z beam

* * *

Zachary's Murasame caught hold an enemy Gouf from behind and ripped its arms. He then pushed the disabled mobile suit toward missiles coming their way. As the enemy mobile suit explodes, Zachary contacted Vishnu. "How are you faring, sir?"

"Fine…fine… I just can't fire my beam rifle and use my sword as much as I want to, that's all. And my battery reserve is at thirty percent"

"That's not so bad. I'm down to twenty one"

"You're wasting too much energy with your attacks" Vishnu's Murasame's, still in its mobile armor mode fired it CIWS at an enemy.

"I'd rather crash because out of power than letting a no-name rookie shot me down"

"Be my guess, sir"

"Yeah, if this keeps up, you'll get your wish" Zachary said as he activated his Murasame's beam saber to slash another enemy

* * *

Meanwhile, Freedom was fighting with Gaia with Impulse supporting the later by firing its beam cannon. As their swords clashed, Kira said, "What you're doing is wrong!"

"Maybe it is so…" Gaia withdrew its beam sword momentarily in order to slash again "…but what you did wasn't the right thing either"

While blocking the slash with its own sword, Freedom's shoulder cannons fired at Gaia's head. "I don't want to go against you"

Gaia evaded, and the beams moved past it harmlessly. They continued toward Impulse which had changed its legs and was approaching from behind Gaia to launch an attack on Freedom. Impulse quickly abandoned its attack. "If you're really sincere about that, then power down you mobile suit," Athrun said. "It is still not too late. We don't have to fight each other"

"Athrun…"

"Despite what you have done, Chairman Gilbert has also given his word the ship's crew will be returned to ORB unharmed"

"I…" Freedom stopped and hovered in one place as Kira contemplated on what he should do. It was very hard for him to fight against his own best friend; the same also applied to Athrun. Besides, Athrun and Minerva's Captain had promised that no harm would come to Archangel if he and the ship's crew surrendered. But before he could give it a further thought, his instinct told him to duck, and he complied. Impulse, then fully equipped with new legs tried to attack from behind. Growing tired of Impulse's pilot's relentless attack, Kira took the opportunity to slash Freedom's sword horizontally across the cockpit area. But to his surprise, Impulse disengaged around the midsection area to avoid Freedom's sword. Then an explosion threw Freedom forward, slamming into Impulse's upper body. Gaia had opened fire on its HIMAT wings. Unlike Impulse which spiraled out of control, Freedom quickly recovered and turned to face Gaia.

"Kira… I can't let you keep doing this" Athrun said with regret.

Freedom slowly moved its beam sword so that it faces Gaia. "I'm sorry too"

Then two blurs moved in the air, as both Gaia and Freedom were trying their best to defeat each other.

* * *

Yuri's Midnight jumped through the air and landed on a Windam, knocking it to the ground. She quickly fired a few shots at the cockpit before moving away. The Windam exploded a few seconds later. "Status!" she shouted over the airwave.

"Maestro's been hit" Robert answered.

"It has been destroyed!"

"No"

"Then, get Louise over here! I'm having my hands full trying to deal with them!"

"Sorry, but a dead person can't drive a mobile suit"

"WHAT!" The whole cockpit rocked as a rocket hit Midnight on its chest. It was fortunate that the anti HEAT laminated armor managed to hold off against the blast. "What has happened!"

"His cockpit was pierced by an armor piercing blade. It was fortunate that he managed to switch off the main reactor before he died. I got a few of our guys to carry the mobile suit away"

"And left me here?"

"Their ammunitions aren't as infinite as yours, and all of them have been heavily damaged"

"I see…" Midnight's MPG-5Z brought down a few more mobile suits, but for each one Yuri destroyed, three more would come her way. It was obvious that she was outnumbered. "How about our operation?"

"It's a success. The last convoy is already a 100 kilometer from here. Barzhakov's precautionary measure has paid off"

"But the enemy could still track them if we let them get through"

"Yes"

"Is that why you're still at the base and controlling the defense?" MPG-5Z's muzzle began to turn red hot from over heating because of non stop firing; its coolant cartridges were spent a long time ago.

Robert smiled. "That, and I would like to be fighting alongside the woman I love"

Yuri was flabbergasted. "You like me?"

"Yes"

Midnight's MPG-5Z exploded, destroying its both hands. The now defenseless mobile suit was slowly being approached by enemy Windams and CATs. There were a few of them surrounding the base as well. "In that case, Robert, anata mo… suki…" Yuri pressed her thumb on a biometric reader and a hidden console appeared. "iie… anata mo daisuki… aishiteru"

"Sou ka?" Robert asked in Japanese, "I'm happy to hear that"

Yuri smiled softly as her finger moved toward the button. "Isshoni shine yo"

Robert knew that they had no choice, and the only way they could stop the enemy forces was to sacrifice themselves. "Hai". He also engaged the self destruct button. "Isshoni. Together"

A few seconds later, the whole area was engulfed by a gigantic explosion.

* * *

"How's the situation over there?" Barzhakov, who was standing next to Sammy asked quietly. Behind him, the main screen was focusing on the battle between Freedom with Gaia and Impulse.

Sammy cupped her ear to listen to the message. "Not looking good. They have managed to defeat most of the attacking force and push the remaining back, but the main base has been destroyed. We have lost Midnight and few Windams as well. Maestro is damaged and the pilot's dead"

"I see. How about the rest of the base's personnel and equipments?" Barzhakov was oddly calm when he said those words.

"The relocation operation from the main base to the current one is complete, save for the rearguards, when they attacked the base"

"Thank you" Barzhakov turned toward Terrence. "Did you bring the ZAFT's communication device like I told you?"

"I've already linked it up to the main computer. We can call them anytime you want"

"Good. Call Gilbert now"

"But what about the current battle?" Enishi asked from his place.

"What about it?" Barzhakov asked quietly.

Enishi was dumbstruck by the response.

"Enishi, whatever happens after this, I trust you will not to interfere"

The ORB military man thought about what he was asked to do before nodding slowly. "I don't like it, buy I swear by my honor"

"Good"

The battle between the three mobile suits were replaced with Gilbert's puzzled face. "GREETING"

Barzhakov raised his hand lazily. "Greeting"

"I'M SURPRISED THAT YOU SUDDENLY CALL ME" his face etched a friendly smile. "HOW CAN I HELP YOU"

"I'm considering your earlier offer to join ZAFT"

Gilbert was puzzled once more "WHY THE SUDDEN CHANGE?"

"Oh, nothing, except that we would like to see the options"

The ZAFT's chairman put a finger on his chin, looking as if he was thinking about what Barzhakov was saying. "ARE YOU SURE YOU'RE MAKING A CORRECT DECISION? THIS KIND OF THING YOU DON'T REALLY DECIDE INSTANTLY"

"Oh, to tell you the truth I've been thinking about it for a while"

Gilbert nodded seriously "I UNDERSTAND. HOWEVER, THE SITUATION HAS CHANGED. IF YOU CAME TO US EARLIER, IT WOULD HAVE BEEN EASIER, BUT NOW…"

"You don't really believe us because the sudden change in attitude?"

"TO TELL YOU HONESTLY, YES"

"Very well. What's the condition?"

"CONDITION?"

"Something that Cherubim has do to prove itself to ZAFT"

The man on the screen was quiet, seemingly thinking about what to say.

"Should we destroy the ship for you?"

Gilbert raised his eyebrows. "Hmm… That would certainly prove to ZAFT that you're sincere enough, but I don't want to burden you with a task as heavy as that"

"That wouldn't be a problem for us"

A smile appeared on Gilbert's lips "Then, by all means, please take care of it"

Barzhakov also smiled "Oh, it will be our pleasure"

"Thank you. I trust you will bring good news" Gilbert's face disappeared from the screen.

The Cherubim's captain was silent. "We will bring you news all right"

"Captain," Enishi called out worriedly, "are we going to shoot the ship down?"

Barzhakov ignored him. "Inform everyone that we will be conducting a Level Two Battle operation"

"Level Two?" Enishi asked.

An officer beside him, a Cherubim veteran, answered as siren blared throughout the ship. "That means all gloves are off and all options are open except one. But the declaration of Level Two means that we may go into Level One"

"What is Level One?"

"Nuclear warfare"

"Can't be…"

"Weapons?" Barzhakov asked.

Enishi looked at screen at his side. "Soyuz missiles have been loaded, Gottfried and Valiant have been deployed" Putting his hands on keyboard to get ready to type, he asked, "What are we going to target, Captain?" he asked nervously, dreading the answer. He knew that even if he rebelled against Barzhakov's order, the latter would just have him replaced with another one. Besides, despite all their differences in opinion regarding Archangel, Enishi still had a high opinion of him.

Barzhakov raised his right hand slowly and pointed to the target, "That one"

* * *

The whole Minerva shook violently.

"What was that!" Talia asked. "Meyrin?"

"Two missiles have hit this ship at aft" Meyrin called out from her console.

"Origin?"

"It's… it's from Cherubim, Captain"

"WHAT! IMPOSSIBLE!"

As if proving her wrong, a shell landed above the ship's fortified bunker.

"DAMN! Get me those backstabbers!"

Meyrin patched the communication to the other ship and Barzhakov appeared.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!" Talia shouted

Barzhakov gave a thin-lipped smile. "ATTACKING YOUR SHIP. IT'S RATHER OBVIOUS, ISN'T IT?"

"I… know… that" Talia said through gritted teeth. "Why are you attacking us?"

"NOTHING PERSONAL. IT'S JUST THAT I'M CURSING THE LOCUST BY POINTING TO THE MULBERRY"

"Cursing the locust by pointing to the mulberry…" Talia remembered reading about it from a book. The book, titled 'The 36 Strategems', written by a famous Chinese strategist hundreds of years ago was a required reading for all ZAFT commanders as it detailed various strategies that could be used in battles. "So you're attacking us to make us an example to another party?"

"YES"

"Who? Are you trying to teach Archangel a lesson by sinking us?"

"Oh, no, although that sounds good to me"

"Then, who?"

A shell hit the ship. "IF YOU MANAGED TO SURVIVE, GO AND TELL YOUR ZAFT COUNCIL THAT LISTENING TO MACHIEVE IS A VERY BIG MISTAKE"

"What do you mean?"

"HAVE A NICE DAY" Barzhakov said as he terminated the communication link.

Talia was looking at the empty screen when another shell hit the front of the ship, around the area where Tanhausser was located.

* * *

"Minerva's Tannhauser's door has been hit" Thames said from her pilot's seat. "Looking at the hit, I believe they will have quite a problem bringing it out"

"Good. That means if it's going to use it, then we will be able to know about it in advance. I want Minerva to be turned into the most beautiful and the most expensive artificial reef in the world," Barzhakov said. "I also want the submarines pinpointed by Merlin to be wiped off, as a retribution for the lives we lost during the attack on the base"

"Why?"

"That will teach Gilbert to mess with us. If he thinks that divulging our base's location to Eurasia will force us to join his army, then he got another thing coming"

"I don't understand" Wilhelm said.

"Machieve betrayed us by revealing the base location to Gilbert" Barzhakov said. "A Junk Guilder told me that he saw Machieve in Carpenteria few days ago.

"But the mobile suits that attacked us belong to Eurasian army…" Terrence said, trailing off. "So, ol' Gil must have 'sold' the base's info to Eurasian. Obviously Gilbert wanted to force us to join him or, if we don't take the mission, get rid of us. And if that's what happens to us…"

"I think the same thing happened to Archangel," Barzhakov finished. "Only the setup is a bit different. Obviously, if Archangel joins ZAFT, then our service isn't needed and vice versa"

"I can't believe it…" Wilhelm uttered. "You mean he'll stab us in the back?"

"Well, believe it. Like it or not, we're already screwed by him. And I'm inclined to return the favor. Launch our mobile suits and tell Merlin to activated its Silent Scream jamming for five minutes"

In Cherubim's hangar, Vince looked at Jackson's face. "Why are you being assigned to my wing mate's Murasame?"

Sighing, Jackson replied, "Barzhakov's order"

"What, he doesn't trust us?"

"Hey, don't look at me. Maybe it's because my skill is better than your wing mate's?"

"Watch your mouth. Don't badmouth my wing mates. They're the best and the brightest in ORB's Air Force"

"Okay, okay, no need to get riled up. Maybe it's because the personal thing Barzhakov asked me to deliver to Archangel's captain" Meanwhile, a mobile suit similar to Midnight, except for its weapons has launched, along with a Murasame. "Look, your other wing mate has launched already, along with Marine"

Vince was surprised "Huh? Stupid rookie. I haven't given her the order to launch yet"

"And you told me not to call them names"

Vince's Murasame moved toward the left catapult as Jackson's Murasame taxied to the other one. "It is different, as I'm their commanding officer. When we land, she's going to get it"

Jackson rolled his eyes and contacted Sammy. "This is Pitcher Two and One, we're ready to take off"

"Your mission, along with the Pitcher Three that has just launched is to help neutralize ZAFT's mobile suits attacking Archangel and its mobile suits complement"

"Copy that" Vince's serious voice echoed through the speaker.

Sammy thought for a moment before establishing a personal line with Jackson. "I think Vince and his wing mates don't have a sense of humor. That pilot that have just launched only exchanged a few words with me," she said, almost whispering.

"Tell me about it," Jackson lamented.

* * *

Meyrin was busy tracking the appearance of four new mobile suits that has launched from Cherubim. "We have three Murasames and an unknown"

"Unknown?" Talia asked, amidst tremors.

"The energy readout is almost similar to the one they called Merlin"

"So it's another Merlin-class mobile suit. Where is it heading?"

"According to the current heading…," Meyrin's eyes widened. "toward our submarines!"

"What? Warn Norgay and Big Bertha quickly!"

Meyrin tried a few times before replying, "I can't"

"Then get Impulse and Gaia to intercept it"

The petite communication officer looked at the large 'FAILED' text in front of her. "Our communication has been jammed!"

Talia gritted her teeth while balling her hands. "Malik! Launch the ship now! We mustn't let that mobile suit reach our submarines"

"Yes, Maam!" Malik answered as he pulled engaged Minerva's engine and lifted the ZAFT's flagship out of the water.

But before the ship could give chase to the mobile suit, Meyrin announced, "Incoming missiles!"

Minerva's CIWS system destroyed all of the missiles before they could reach the ship.

"Very well," Talia said, "We'll deal with Cherubim first. Malik, turn us around so that we will face that ship. Launch flares. Hopefully, both submarines will be able to see our warning"

"How about Archangel?" Arthur asked.

"If we don't get rid of Cherubim, Archangel will be the least of our worries"

Minerva slowly turned around, while deploying its weapons. "Tristan, Isolde deployed. Target: Cherubim," Arthur announced.

A sweat trickled slowly down Talia's face as she looked at the ship with delta wings. "FIRE!"

Missiles, beams and hyper velocity projectiles moved toward the ship which also responded in kind.

"EVASIVE MANEUVER!"

* * *

**1**

**

* * *

**

**Author's note (21 May 2006)**

1. Yes, this is the turning point when Cherubim had to choose its side. But, of course, there shouldn't be any surprise to which side it has decided to align itself. With Archangel almost crippled, making Cherubim join Minerva to subdue Archangel seems like a too easy victory for Dullindal.

2. Sorry for the cliff hangars, but I guess it's unavoidable. For example, when I reach the part when Talia said "EVASIVE MANEUVER", I go blank and couldn't continue anymore. So at that point I decide to just end the chapter.

3. This is a rather early update, but I might be very busy next month and I might miss the 1 June update. Consider this my 1st June update. Add that and my serious drain in creative energy…


	25. The fall of Freedom

"Captain! Incoming missiles barrage from unknown sources!" Chandra said as he track their trajectories. Despite Cherubim and Minerva fighting each other, the ZAFT's missiles barrage continued on. .

"Activate our CIWS except the ones near the repair jobs"

"Yes, Captain" Amagi said.

Everyone watched as the missiles were safely destroyed before they could reach Archangel. Murrue asked, "What about the repair work, Miriallia? Are they done?"

"Still a bit more"

"Another incoming barrage"

"Intercept them again. How about our Murasames' refueling and rearming?"

"On the way" Miriallia as she checked their status. "We're trying to finish the process as fast as we could, but…"

"I understand," Murrue said, cutting her off. "Nevertheless, send them out as soon as possible. The other two doesn't look as if they can last any longer. How about those two ships?"

"Still battlin$g," Cagalli said. "I wonder what caused them to be fighting each other. Aren't they're supposed to be allies, fighting against us?"

"I don't know" Murrue said. "But in our current situation, this turn of the event is probably the thing that will determine wether we'll be able to leave this place in one piece…"

Cagalli could see where Murrue was going with her statement and said, "But we couldn't side with the ship that has helped to destroy mobile suits!"

"Which one are you talking about?" Murrue asked.

"That Earth Alliance ship, of course"

"I can see your reasoning, but we can't side with Minerva, not when it was trying to capture us"

"But…"

"It was ZAFT that attacked this ship in the first place" Murrue pointed toward Impulse which was on the screen. "And you shouldn't forget the fact that the ZAFT's mobile suit had also killed many of our friends"

"I…"

"Seems to me, Lady Cagalli, it's better for us to assist Cherubim"

"Amagi!"

"Or we can just wait" Murrue said. "Siding with any of them is a moot point right now, as we're in no position to do so"

"Another attack, Captain!" Chandra announced.

"We can only wait… and watch" Murrue repeated as the main screen continued to show the battle between Freedom, Impulse and Gaia.

* * *

Athrun looked as Minerva and Cherubim exchanged shots. "What the hell…" Something must have happened that have caused the supposed ZAFT's ally to backstab and attack Minerva. But whatever the reason, the ZAFT flagship needed help and support to fight it. He called Shinn. "Shinn, we must return to protect Minerva!" 

Only static noise greeted his attempt do so. Not wanting to give up, he tried again, but due to Merlin's jamming his message didn't get through to Shinn.

Meanwhile, the said pilot was busy trying to get a lock on Freedom. "Come on, Freedom. I shall let you free. Just sit still, will you?" He grinned maniacally. "Just like you attacked Stellar, I'll finally get you this time" Impulse fired at Freedom and missed by a fraction of a meter. "Damn"

The FAITH member wondered about what he should do. His first thought was to leave the area immediately and return to assist Minerva, but he couldn't leave Shinn to fight Kira alone. He didn't want a repeat of what happened to Nicol. He pressed the communication buttons, trying to recalibrate the communication signal but to no avail. Athrun had decided to approach Impulse and dragged it back when he saw Impulse's beam rifle was destroyed by a precise shot from Freedom's rail bazooka. "SHINN!"

Shinn, unperturbed by what has happened to his mobile suit's rifle decided to draw out the beam sword instead. For him, the fight against Freedom was no longer centered on avenging Stellar only. The fight has put his pride on the line as well; the pride of that young boy who bested every other ORB residents in many fields, the pride that caused him numerous troubles with ZAFT higher ups. Impulse engaged its thrusters at maximum and rushed at Freedom.

Athrun watched as Freedom keep firing at Impulse and the latter evading the shots by twisting and turning. While what Shinn did was no less than spectacular for a pilot of his caliber, Athrun felt that it was strange the Kira didn't fire all of its weapons, preferring to keep Impulse occupied with its rifle. Then it dawned on him.

"Few hundred meters more…" Shinn said as he pursued Freedom who was flying backward. He knew that the mobile suit couldn't fly backwards as fast as forward, a minor detail that will spell the end for it. Freedom tried to lose him by zigzagging and changing directions a few times, but he doggedly followed it around.

"Shinn!" Athrun called out.

"What!" Shinn answered, distracted. "Can't you see that I'm busy right now?"

"The jamming has ended?" Athrun asked himself. Then, realizing that he had an important thing to tell, he said, "We must go back! Minerva needs us!"

"If you want to go back, go ahead, _Commander_. Me? I'm going to finish Freedom off once for all" Shinn said cockily. He continued his pursue of Freedom which also continued to dance out of his way. "Damn you… Freedom!"

"Shinn, Minerva is…"

The young pilot switched off the communication, wanting to concentrate on getting his prey into the crosshair. Just as he had targetted the mobile suit and was about to fire, Freedom swerve out of the way again. But this time, the mobile suit changed its direction and engaged its boosters toward Impulse, as if wanting to ram into the mobile suit. Shinn quickly evaded and tried to slash Freedom. To his surprise, Freedom moved passed his mobile suit. "What the…" It was when he turned Impulse around did he see Freedom was engaging all of its weaponry to fire at him. "Oh no, you don't" He quickly manuevered Impulse out of Freedon's fire, only to have on of the shots destroying the legs. "Damn you, this isn't over…"

Unfortunately for him, it seemed that the fight was over, as Fredom had aimed its beam rifle at the spot where Impulse would be. It turns out that the previous attack was to force Shinn to move into its rifle's target area. Inside Freedom, Kira calmly pressed the trigger button. _"Sorry"_

Just as the beam was fired, another beam shot destroyed the rifle, almost taking out Freedom's hand if it hadn't for Kira realeasing it. "Athrun…" Freedom quickly drew its beam saber to block another subsequent attack from Gaia.

Athrun's grip on his mobile suit's joystick tightened. "I'm not going to let what happened to Nicol to happen today"

Meanwhile, Shinn has recovered from the shock that he had nearly lost his live to Freedom. Renewed with fervor, Impulse joined the battle.

Kira expertly maneuvered his mobile suit to evade an attack by Shinn, and use the oppurtunity to move in front of it, preventing Athrun from attacking him. He then slashed at Impulse chest, but Impulse caught the sword with one hand, and the the hand exploded.

"Shinn!" Athrun commanded with authority in his voice. "Move aside!"

It wasn't often that Shinn comply with what Athrun told him to do, but that time he wisely moved his mobile suit out of the way. Gaia and Freedom resumed their fight. Freedom tried to push Gaia away by engaging its shoulder beam cannon, Gaia moved to Freedom's side and destroyed them as well as chopping of Freedom's head. At the same time, Freedom also slashed at Gaia's head and managed to decapitate it. Before Gaia could attack further, Freedom turned its body toward it and engaged its bazookas. The shots got Gaia in the chest and Athrun lost control of his mobile suit and it began to fall.

Shinn looked at Gaia falling and felt anger coursing through him. "Freedom…" With fury fueling him, he attack Freedom head on.

Although Freedom'ss main camera was taken out by Gaia, the headless mobile suit still managed to counterattaked by using its secondary cameras. Impulse lost its left hand. Not to be deterred, Shinn disengaged his mobile suit parts and attacked Freedom using Core Splendor, utilizing its nimbleness to evade Freedom's attack. "DIE!" The aircraft shoot its machineguns, scoring direct hits on it. However, the shots were ineffective against Freedom's Shift Phase armor.

"What is he doing?" Kira asked as he tried to target Core Splendor. Suddenly the computer beeped its warning, while radar was showing sometthing approaching him from behind. He quickly switched to the rear camera. "What the…?" It was Chest Flyer flying toward him at high speed. Instantly Kira realized that Impulse pilot was trying to distract him so that the other aircraft could attack him. A good attack, but not without a flaw. Kira was about to destroy Chest Flyer when an explosion on Freedom's wing, throwing him off guard. Kira searched for the source of the direction. It was from Gaia. Then his eyes widened as he realized that he has forgotten about Chest Flyer. He turned back and saw that Core Splendor has reintegrated with Impulse and the mobile suit was very near to him, its MMI-710 Excalibur sword clearly targeting Freedom's cockpit. It was already too late to avoid the attack. Impulse sword pierced through Freedom's body and a second later both of them were engulfed in a large explosion.

"Kira… " Athrun said, full of guilt and regret.

* * *

"There're so many of them…" Zachary muttered as he maneuvered his mobile suit away from enemy missiles. While his Murasame was more advanced than some of the ZAFT mobile suits attacking him and he had skills and experience to augment it, it was a fact that they outnumbered him and his wing mate fifteen to one. They realized it and used the advantage to the fullest. Four mobile suits were chasing him at that time, ganging him up so that he couldn't retaliate. At the same time, another mobile suit aimed its rifle at his Murasame and fired. Zachary saw the shot, but it was already too late to avoid it and merely closed his eyes and waited for the certain death. It didn't. 

Zachary opened his eyes to see that Vishnu's Murasame was standing at the beam's supposed trajectory, a large gaping hole on its body.

"Sir…" Vishnu's face appeared, speaking with a weak and strained voice. "Despite your redeming qualities, you can be a damned fool and idiotic ass hole"

"Vishnu…"

Vishnu nodded. "But I respect you sir. It was an hon…" His mobile suit ignited into a giant fireball, engulfing and drowning anything that he could have said.

"Vishnu!" Zachary shouted.

"Where are you looking at, amateur?" a foreign voice invaded his communication channel.

Zachary looked away and saw a Gouf coming toward him with its beam sword at ready but just as the blue mobile was about to cut his Murasame into two, it exploded.

"You owe me two pints of whiskey," an unfamiliar voice said as a Murasame with a Windam head moved to his side.

He looked at the markings on the newcomer's mobile suit and recognized it. "Wha? That unit… you're Kurosaki?"

"Close enough. I'm a 'J' instead of 'K'"

"He's Nash Jackson of Cherubim," another voice chimed in. This time, he knew the pilot's voice.

"Vince?"

"In person"

"What are you doing here?"

"Swatting some annoying single-eyed mosquitoes buzzing around your ship"

Jackson interrupted. "Hey, let's chat latter. We still have some work to do"

* * *

From the explosion that has engulfed it, a limbless and damaged Freedom emerged, crashing to the ocean below. Inside it, an unconscious Kira Yamato was strapped to its seat. Somehow, he managed to evade Shinn's attack at the last possible moment so that it wouldn't hit the nuclear reactor. However, with most of Freedom's parts destroyed and Kira knocked out, the situation looked grim for him. 

Meanwhile, a blackened Impulse also emerged from the explosion, its white and blue colors were gone because of it being powered down. Then, the mobile suit disengaged and fell to the sea, leaving only Core Splendor still operational. Shinn let out a chuckle of bittersweet victory as he looked at the crashing mobile suit. He leaned back on his seat and let his thought lingered on a golden haired girl. In his mind, he was imagining her smiling at him. "Stellar…" he said fondly, letting a tear rolled down his cheek as he felt the weight that was clutching his heart ever since the battle at Berlin dissipate away. "I did it, Stellar… Thanks to Athrun's help, I did it. I have avenged your death" He turned his head toward Gaia. "Thank you, Athrun," he said softly.

But his words weren't heard on Gaia, as Shinn did not activate the communication to convey his gratitude for his commander. For the first time since his family was killed, Shinn let himself feel respect for someone. "Thanks to you, I have avenged Stellar" Little did Shinn know that the person he was thanking at that time was in the middle of turmoil at having to fight and possibly murdered his very own friend. The young ZAFT ace turned back his attention toward Freedom, thinking about what he should do.

But before Shinn could decide, a Gouf passed by his Core Splendor by at high speed, giving chase to the damaged mobile suit. Inside its cockpit, the Gouf's pilot was cackling with glee as he was fantasizing about the Order of Nebula medal he would receive after he had killed the famous ace who piloted Freedom. Although it would be easy for him to fire at limbless Freedom from his location, he decided that he could derive better satisfaction as well as glory by cutting through the cockpit. Besides, it would certainly get him some respect from his drinking buddies if he could boast that he destroyed Freedom using a sword. Of course, he didn't have to mention the fact that Impulse and Gaia did most of the work and he was merely grabbing an opportunity.

A whooshing sound being picked up by the external audio receptors brought him out of his day dream and the pilot saw his view being blocked by something that moved in front of his mobile suit. _"What the hell?"_

Then he saw some movement being made by the object and his mobile suit's audio receptors were also confirming this by broadcasting the sounds of metal parts meshing together. It was as if the thing was transforming. Deciding to find out about what was blocking his view, he moved his Gouf's main camera to look downward a bit. Legs… hips... chest... head. _"Looks like a mobile suit…" _He was shocked to see a Windam's head peering at him. "_A Windam's head being attached to a Murasame's body?"_ Then he realized that it was jabbing something toward his cockpit. To his consternation, it was a beam weapon. He couldn't react fast enough to move his mobile suit out of the way. Multiple beams pierced through his cockpits and through him. In less than two seconds after he first had his view blocked, the hero wannabe died at the hand of the newcomer.

The newcomer then kicked the Gouf away and transformed into a mobile armor. With the ZAFT's mobile suit exploding behind it, it flew toward the still spiraling Freedom at high speed. It then transformed back into mobile suit and caught hold of Freedom, engaging its afterburners to stop both of them from descending further. Unfortunately, the weight of Freedom cockpit was too heavy for it to lift and they continued their uncontrolled descent. Not wanting to give up, the Murasame momentarily released its hold on Freedom's cockpit, transformed into a mobile armor again and fired all of its missiles. It then assumed its mobile suit form to grab Freedom with its right arm and fired at the missiles with the other one holding the MPG-5Z. Before the beams reached the missiles, the Murasame quickly released its MPG-5Z to bring up its shield, twisting a bit so that Freedom's cockpit was safely behind it when the missiles exploded. The resulting explosions knocked both the mobile suit and its rescued cargo toward Archangel.

If it wasn't for the helmet that covered his head, Jackson would have rubbed his eyes in disbelief. He wasn't sure whether Ezra, the mobile suit's pilot was a Coordinator or not, but in order to execute such a risky maneuver needs precise timing as well as plenty of guts. It wasn't as if the pilot had plenty of chance to practice the technique. Too far from the explosions and the force created by the explosion wouldn't be enough to propel both the Murasame and Freedom. Too close and both mobile suits would be burnt to crisp. "Whoohoo! ORB pilots are confirmed nut cases," he commented dryly.

"Stop badmouthing Ezra's idiotic and suicidal tactic" Vince retorted, referring to his other wing mate.

"You're the one who called it idiotic and suicidal" Jackson complained.

"But I'm her superior officer; I can call her whatever I want"

"Then why do you take offense whenever I insult her?"

"Because I'm her superior"

"That reasoning is useless and illogical"

"Only to a dimwit like you"

"Oh yeah!" Jackson's Murasame sped toward Vince's while bringing out its beam sword.

"Yeah" Meanwhile, Vince's unit was bring out its MPG-5Z and aimed it toward Jackson's.

Jackson's unit slashed at something behind Vince's. A beam shot was deflected safely. "Weep and grovel at my feet for forgiveness later as I have saved your sorry ass"

"Fat chance" Vince said through gritted teeth as he fired at a DINN behind Jackson's unit.

"Huh. Ungrateful wretch!" Jackson said as he gave chase to the mobile suit that was behind Vince's

"Talking about yourself?" Vince asked as he blocked subsequent shots from the DINN.

"I thought we still have some work to do?" Zachary asked, hoping to diffuse the situation.

"You got that right, Zach" Vince said. "We'll settle this afterwards, Jack" he asked as he shot his MPG-5Z back at his opponent. The shots rained on the DINN and it exploded a moment later.

"My pleasure. Poker?" Jackson said as his Windam's slash went through the cockpit of the another ZAFT mobile suit.

"Anytime, if you don't get shot down

"Save the words for yourself"

* * *

1

* * *

**Author's note (7 June 2006)**

1. This chapter and the next one, which I will probably finish in a week's time will focus more on other characters apart from our favorite ones. Although I can just do the fight between Kira, Shinn and Athrun and ignore the rest, I feel it's best if I focus them as well so that there will be continuity. After all, it lets me try some scenes that I have been wanting do ever since I start writing Fallen Angel. Examples of those would be the Murasame transforming to take out the ZAFT's mobile suit at close range, and the Murasame exploding its own missiles so that the force created would propel both Freedom and it toward Archangel. I think those scenes suited Murasame very well as opposed to using Freedom (Freedom couldn't transform into a mobile armour and has lotsa, lotsa thrust ). But in case someone wonders, no, I'm not making them as strong as Kira and the others. Think of them as on par with the trio that took out Chaos and the trio that piloted DOM Trooper.

2. At last! I have achieved what I set out to do! I have reached 70,000 words pinacle. Looking back at when I started, I estimated the story to be around 70,000 words and aimed for it. But as I reach my goal (total words 72420 words as of this chapter) ... I realized that the ultimate goal which is to finish this story isn't achieved yet. Now I'm looking at 100,000 words. I thank myself (of course. I have to be conceited enough to motivate myself to write), Nick, Zidane as well as other reviewers who helped me a lot by giving me feedbacks and opinions. Not to forget other readers who also helped me by simply reading it (I use the power of positive imagination to pretend that my story is good enough to be read by you).

To all of you: Thank you!


	26. The goddess' defeat

On Archangel, Miriallia announced, "Captain, a Cherubim-based Murasame is going to land on runaway number one without our clearance!"

Murrue who had her attention fixed to the battle between Cherubim and Minerva turned her head slightly. "Can you tell it to turn back? I'm not sure whether we can trust them yet"

Miriallia did as she was told and shook her head. "It can't. It is carrying Freedom and can't turn back because of the weight"

"Then we have no choice but to let it land"

"But Captain," Chandra interrupted, "Based on its trajectory, it will crash on the ship unless we raise the ship's elevation to match its entry"

"Can you project its descent angle?"

"Yes?" Chandra quickly calculated it and answered, "Forty seven degrees seven minutes"

"Get me Murdoch"

Kojiro Murdoch appeared on the screen, seemingly slightly agitated. "We're trying the best as we can, Captain, so please wait"

"I want to know whether we can engage a few thrusters beneath the ship to raise the elevation"

The head mechanic put a hand under his chin. "Well, the auxilary thrusters should be able to handle fifty degrees if we're to risk them overburning, but I prefer twenty though. If you're willing to wait for a few minutes more, I can redirect the energy properly"

"Thank you, but we don't have the time. Prepare for an emergency landing on landing bay one"

"Okay" Murdoch said as he disappeared from the screen.

"Neumann, raise the ship to thirty five degrees"

"Understood" Neumann pushed on the throttle and the ship lifted out of the water a bit.

"Miriallia, tell that Murasame that this is the best angle we can give under the circumstances. If it couldn't land on the ship, ask it to land to the ocean and we'll pick them up.

The main screen switched to display a damaged Windam holding Freedom's body moving toward the left landing bay. Meanwhile, Miriallia's console beeped and showed that the Launcher Strike pack was being equipped to a flight drone on the other bay and was ready to launch. "Captain"

"What?" Murrue asked, just a fraction of a second before she saw something was moving out of the right launch pad. "Is that…?"

"Yes. Our network has been hacked from outside the ship"

"Impossible" In her heart, Murrue knew that such thing was possible. After all, Archangel was designed with such a high level of automation that the ship could be sent into combat by remote control. "Kira has improved on the security and only we know how to access it from outside the ship"

"Maybe it was another Coordinator who managed to hack it?" Cagalli said, offering her view.

* * *

The drone moved toward Vince's Murasame that was firing toward a column of enemy mobile suit. He quickly threw the MPG-5Z he was carrying to Zachary's Murasame. He then aligned his mobile suit so that the pack could be attached. "Cover me while I try to integrate the Agni cannon to my unit," he said as he be reprogramming his mobile suit's operating system to enable it to use the unit effectively. On one of the screen, multiple lines of codes scrolled as he keep entering commands through the keyboard and the unit's neural interface. 

"All right" Zachary said. He then fired at the weapon he got at a couple of enemies nearby. The beam machinegun quickly mowed them down. But because of the very strong recoil, he couldn't control the gun very well. A few of the shots nearly hit Jackson's Murasame who was nearby.

"Hey! Watch it!" Jackson shouted, clearly annoyed.

"Sorry, I couldn't control the machinegun"

"It's because the recoil is stronger than the one you normally use. Hold the barrel with the other hand"

Zachary did as he was told "Like this?" he asked as he fired at an unfortunate ZAKU.

Jackson's Murasame attacked a mobile suit, firing its MPG-5Z. It then turned its attention toward another mobile suit and pressed the trigger. Unfortunately, the machinegun's power reserved has been depleted and it failed to fire. Jackson quickly twisted his mobile suit's body and hit the head of the mobile suit while releasing the spent clip from his MPG-5Z. Meanwhile, an energy clip fell from its storage place. Jackson's Murasame kicked the new energy clip upward, caught it with his Murasame's free hand, reloaded his beam machinegun with it and fired the machinegun at the enemy, all in one fluid motion. "Yeah"

Zachary couldn't believe what he saw. "How the hell? How did you do that?"

"Video games," Jackson said. "Champion in North Atlantic for three years straight," he said proudly.

"Be careful," Vince said as his Murasame pushed Zachary's unit away. It then fired the newly integrated cannon at another ZAFT mobile suits column. "I think you better and refuel. Jackson and I will keep them busy"

"Sigh. I'll leave the security of the ship in your hand"

"Don't worry. I'll do my best, as Lady Cagalli is onboard"

Zachary proceeded to land on Archangel.

"Pretty cool script you have there," Jackson teased. "I'm a big hero" he said in a girlish voice.

"Is it wrong to say that?"

"Nah," Jackson smashed the butt of his MPG-5Z against a ZAKU's main camera before kicking it away. "All we need to do is clear the enemy mobile suits attacking this ship, right? Looks like your buddies have done a pretty good job"

Vince looked at Gaia and Core Splendor. "Yes, but not good enough to get rid of those two. Freedom lost to them"

"Why don't we even up the score?" Jackson asked, eyeing something in the distance.

"What do you mean?"

"This!" Jackson engaged his Murasame's afterburner and moved in a direction at high speed.

Vince was about to ask what he was doing when he saw Jackson's Murasame draw out its sword and slashed some kind of aircraft. He immediately understood what Jackson meant and shot at another one using its Agni cannon.

"If they think we're going to wait for Impulse to merge with its Packs and kick our butts, they have another thing coming," Jackson said haughtily.

"I agree. That tactic is the most foolish I've ever seen"

"At last, a common ground where we can agree. Leg Flyer, Chest Flyer, if you ask me, ZAFT techies must have rocks in their heads for thinking such a thing. Geez. If they really want the weapons to be interchangeable, they could have copied the Strike Packs"

"Agreed," Vince said as he fired two salvos at Minerva. "Even then, it's not that easy to utilize the system in this warfare" One of them managed to hit Minerva's portside.

"Great…" Jackson couldn't finish his sentence as he was forced to evade. Core Splendor sped by, firing its machine guns at him. "Doesn't this guy know that it's suicidal for his plane to go against a mobile suit?" The small jet fighter tried to do another strafing run. But before it could do so, one of Jackson's mobile suit's hands managed to catch it by the tail, immobilizing it. Jackson sighed. "I know that I may regret not killing you today, and you may come to collect my number the next time… but…" His mobile suit hurled the aircraft toward the ocean. He then broke into an uncontrollable laughter. "HA HA HA HA HA. I always wonder how it feels to be like the giant ape in that classical movie, throwing planes like garbage. WOOARRR! Whoo whoo whoo…"

Vince looked at smokes coming out of Core Splendor before training his gun at another ZAFT's mobile suit, mentally rolling his eyes. Somehow, Cherubim have a large collection of movies predating Cosmic Era stowed in the ship's entertainment database. He had often wondered about the origin of such a big collection. "You're no King Kong, Jackson"

"Oh, that's the name of the movie, right? I thought its Gazebo"

"Godzilla"

"Whatever," Jackson said as he eyed Gaia rescuing the small craft from crashing into the ocean. "Hmm… Should we pursue Gaia?"

"No. The safety of Lady Cagalli as well as Archangel is of utmost importance… and Cherubim too"

"Okay, if you insist" Jackson's MPG-5Z came to life, spitting green ray of death on an unfortunate DINN.

* * *

"Captain Barzhakov! Our port side Gottfried has been hit," Enishi reported. 

"We're also losing a bit of our armor" Thames said. "Section 15 has to be sealed off due to some explosions in that area. Poisonous gas is leaked in Section 3"

Barzhakov frowned as he asked.. "How about Minerva?"

"Tristan has been taken out"

"Tit for tat. A fair trade, I should say. Sammy, how about Marine?"

"It's currently engaging the submarines. Wait… we have a confirmed destruction of one of them"

"Good. Tell both Merlin and Marine to return to the ship as soon as they're done"

Cherubim was rocked by a missile blast.

"Heh, good thing I ordered the Shadow Dancer panels to be stored or else the panels would have been damaged"

"Sir, couldn't we use it and ambush Minerva?" Enishi asked.

"Sorry, not in this manner" Terrence answered from his seat. "Even if we can engage the system, we can't engage the weaponry save for our missiles. Apart from that, the stealth effectiveness is greatly reduced in such a close range"

Enish looked at the ZAFT ship in front of him. "It would be easy if we can hit the shit under its belly. The armor beneath it would probably thin, just like ORB's seafaring vessels"

"Couldn't be" Barzhakov answered. "Like Cherubim and other ships designed for space warfare, the ship probably has thick armor beneath it. Even if the armor at that part is thinner, its captain wouldn't be foolish enough to let us attack that part" He was about to continue when he realized something and caught hold of himself. "What the hell am I blabbering about? There is a way to do that…"

* * *

"Captain, Cherubim is on a collision course with us," Malik announced. 

"Couldn't be. They wouldn't try something like that," Arthur, Talia's assistance said.

"Keep firing toward the ship" Talia said. "How long before impact?"

"Less than one minute, if we don't change our course"

"Keep our current course. If he thinks that he can intimidate us with such an act, he's mistaken"

Minerva moved toward Cherubim, exchanging fires. Few seconds later, Malik announced. "Twenty second before critical"

Talia knew that what Malik meant was that she had twenty seconds to decide on the course change before it would be too late to change the course. "No changes in Cherubim?"

"No"

Talia's hand went up to wipe of a sweat forming on her forehead. It seemed that either Cherubim's captain wanted to ram his ship into Minerva or he was playing chicken, daring her to match his suicidal bid. Either way, the captain was a crazy man.

"Fifteen"

No one began to pay attention toward the sight tremors sweeping through the ship anymore as they wait for Talia's order.

"Ten… nine… eight… seven…"

Talia gritted her teeth but said nothing

"Six… five... four… "

"EVASIVE MANEUVER! INCREASE THRUST TO MAXIMUM AND RAISE ALTITUDE!"

Minerva began to fly over Cherubim when the ship was rocked with a powerful blast at its underneath.

On Cherubim, Barzhakov was smiling as he said, "See? I told you Talia is a very rational person"

"Yes, otherwise both of our ships are goners now" Wilhelm replied, letting out a relieved breath. "Honestly, you got me scared just now, ordering for this ship to ram into Minerva"

"You're right… seems that we owe them a bit" Barzhakov said, musing. "But I don't care about that. Target their engines"

Cherubim's Valiants rotated back and fired, hitting Minerva's main thrusters. The ZAFT's main battleship was leaking smoke from the damages as the ship began to lose its attitude.

"Direct hit" Wilhelm said.

"Well, I suppose it wouldn't be right if we take the opportunity to get rid of them. After all, they did play fair…"

"Should we stop our attack?" Enishi asked.

He shrugged. "No. Unlike ORB, I don't care about such morality either. Keep bombarding it"

Despite its captain's efforts, Minerva was repeatedly hit and began to careen toward the ocean surface. As if adding salt to injury, one of the shots managed to hit two more thrusters, ensuring that Minerva lost its vector control and crashed on the ocean.

Barzhakov said, "How about Gaia and Impulse?"

Amidst the bridge shaking because of Minerva's counterattack, Sammy answered, "Our boys are engaging them"

"Good. Tell them to keep those two busy, especially that Gaia. We will make sure Impulse's pilot wouldn't get any reinforcement from Minerva"

Cherubim kept its constant attack on Minerva, chipping the later's defense bit by bit, targeting the ship's CIWS. Finally Minerva's defensive weapons were almost wiped out.

"We finally got it," Barzhakov said. He raised his hand. "Well then, it's time…"

"Captain, ZAFT's reinforcements has just entered our Merlin's sonar range. Distance: 61 kilometers"

Barzhakov put the raised hand behind his head and sighed. "Couldn't you interrupt me at a better time? I was about to order for a full annihilation of Minerva. Lowering his hand, he continued, "It seems that the situation has changed to their favor. Very well, drop limpet mines on that ship. Meanwhile, get me Murrue"

A few seconds later, Murrue's face appeared on the screen. "HELLO, CAPTAIN"

"Hello, Little Pony"

Murrue narrowed her eyes but said nothing.

"Has your ship been repaired?"

"YES"

"Good. Then you must get away from this place. As you probably know, their reinforcements are en route"

"HOW ABOUT YOU?"

"We'll manage"

"WHY?"

He cocked his head, "My dear, I'm no mind reader. Can you be more specific with the question?"

"WHY DO YOU HELP US? YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE THEIR ALLY, HELPING THEM TO GET RID OF US"

"Let's say that right now, we're in the same boat" He grinned. "Nice joke, yes?"

"HA HA, VERY FUNNY"

"Good. Please take care of our mobile suits for us"

"THEY'RE OURS!" Cagalli's voice was clearly audible while Murrue was seen looking at another direction.

Barzhakov grinned, knowing very well that Cagalli could hear what he was about to say. "No, they're not. Miss Attha. You can whine like five year old brat if you want, but the fact is that we're the one who recovered them and fully repaired them"

"AFTER YOU SHOT THEM DOWN" Cagalli retorted.

"True. But if you can't accept the fact we're in a middle of a war instead of building castle in the air, then I suppose Lord Nuzumi Attha has done a bad job of raising you to become a good leader"

"YOU…" Cagalli sputtered.

"Well, I don't say that you're a bad leader; it all depends whether you're letting your brashness take control of you. Anyway, like I said, we have no time to lose. See you later" Barzhakov gave a signal to Sammy to terminate the connection. He sighed and turned toward Enishi. "No offense, Enishi, but Lady Cagalli sometimes thinks with her mouth and temper"

Enish gave a strained smile, knowing very well that he can't either agree or disagree with the statement.

"Have we been able to attach some limpet mines on Minerva?" Barzhakov asked.

Terrence nodded. "Twelve"

"Enough to destroy the whole ship?"

"I think that it's more than enough to maim it"

"Then send a message to Minerva, telling it that we will cease attacks on the ship if it tells the other ships to stand down and retreat from the area"

"Yes, Captain," Sammy answered.

Talia appeared on the main screen. "YOU DARE MOCK US BY OFFERING SUCH AN OFFER!"

Barzhakov lowered the tip of his captain's hat slightly, hiding his face a bit. He didn't want the other person to see the frown forming on his face, "I'm not mocking you, but let's say that both of us wanted to live to fight another day"

Minerva's Captain was frowning. "WHAT MAKES YOU SO CONFIDENT THAT YOU'LL BE ABLE TO DESTROY US? CORRECT ME IF I'M WRONG, BUT IT IS YOUR SHIP THAT'S BEING SURROUNDED"

"That may be true… but destroying your ship, as well as everything around the area, is easy, really. The problem is that, we don't want to do so by getting us killed as well"

Talia's eyes widened as understanding of what he meant came to her. "WHAT… DO… YOU… MEAN?"

"Oh, you know what I meant. Maybe you wouldn't hesitate to sacrifice you and Minerva, but how about the rest of the ZAFT's converging force?"

"HUH?"

"A large number of ZAFT's navy being taken out. That's a huge price to pay for ensuring Cherubim's destruction, don't you think? And think about the subsequent radioactive contamination in the whole area. But don't let that worry you. The explosion will kill us before the gamma ray does"

"YOU! YOU WOULDN'T DARE!"

"A cornered beast would fight to the end, what more armed soldiers"

Talia's raging red face and gritted teeth told Barzhakov as much to as what she was feeling at that time.

"As you know, there were mines on your ship. Now, Cherubim would play the role of the bad guy and take your ship as hostage and threaten to detonate all of them if the ZAFT's army doesn't stand down and let us escape"

"THEY WOULDN'T LET YOU GO OFF EASILY"

"Oh, they will. In my experience, ZAFT tends to value their soldiers' life more than Earth Alliance, so they will stop, unless of course, you specifically order them to keep pursuing. You wouldn't do that, do you? Less than fifty kilometers from the blast… what will happen to their hulls? After all, Bozgorov class submarines aren't as sturdy as Minerva… Imagine them sinking to the bottom of the ocean… with everyone trapped inside… oh… that's quite a torturous way to die"

"I NEVER THOUGHT SOMEONE WITH A MIND SO TWISTED COULD EXIST"

"I thought that we're talking about us, not Lord Djibril and Azrael" Barzhakov almost added Patrick Zala and Gilbert Dullindal to the list, but decided that winning the verbal war wouldn't worth the risk of the angry ZAFT captain cutting of their conversation. A little diplomacy wouldn't hurt. "So, what would it be? We all can either die gloriously… or we can just walk away. Your choice"

The Minerva's captain was quiet for a long time before she finally spoke. "ALL RIGHT. WE'LL PLAY IT YOUR WAY. HOW DO I KNOW THAT YOU'RE NEGOTIATING IN GOOD FAITH AND CAN BE TRUSTED?"

"You don't. But I'll give you my words that we'll just leave" Barzhakov signaled for Sammy to send warning to the other ZAFT ships in the area.

The Minerva's captain nodded. "WE'LL ACCEPT. BUT REMEMBER THIS, BARZHAKOV. I'LL DESTROY YOU AND YOUR SHIP THE NEXT TIME WE MEET"

"Actually, that's supposed to be my line"

Talia terminated the communication.

Wilhelm asked, "How about the Murasames?"

"We'll lend them to Archangel for the time being to keep it out of the trouble. Besides, we need to return to our makeshift base now, in case something turns out. After that, we have a lot of things to do"

"Well, I guess now we wouldn't feel guilty if we help ourselves to ZAFT's warehouses as well," Terrence said.

"How about Machieve?" Wilhelm asked.

"As much as I want to cut the damned traitor into convenient bite size chunks to feed to Valentina's dogs, we can't do anything as he's under the protection of ZAFT"

"But I doubt Gilbert will have further use for him after this," Terrence said.

"Exactly" Barzhakov sighed. "So, we'll have to contend ourselves with the fact that he'll only be killed by a ZAFT agent"

"Marine and Merlin have just landed," Sammy announced.

"Good. Full speed ahead"

"By the way, Captain" Terrence said.

"Yes?"

"I suddenly recall that it has been a while since this ship carries the Stalins onboard" he said, referring to the four nuclear missiles that were designed to be launched via the ship's catapult.

Barzhakov raised his eyebrows. "Yes, of course. Dangerous things, those missiles. That's why we don't carry them anymore"

Enishi was shocked as he thought about what Barzhakov implied by his statement. If it was true, then all those threats about using the nuclear weapons were…

"Ladies and gentlemen, let's go home. If anyone needs me, I'll be in my room," Barzhakov said, leaving the bridge before Enishi question him.

"The destruction of the base must have been affecting him more than he would let on," Terrence commented.

"That's Barzhakov to you," Wilhelm said. "Always acting macho, that old softie"

* * *

1

* * *

**Author's note (12 June 2006)**

1. Nothing say today, I guess...


	27. Crimson wave

Shinn went out of his cockpit after the repair crew managed to open it. He then quickly went after Athrun who was walking away. "Athrun…"

He was greeted with a powerful backhand that threw him to the floor.

Athrun stopped walking but didn't look at him. Meanwhile, everyone inside the hangar gathered around to watch what had happened.

"What the hell? I was came to praise you on the great job you did against Freedom and you hit me!"

Athrun turned and gave him a withering glare. "I suppose that you also want praises as well. Very well. Congratulations, Shinn. You're a first class 'ace' hole"

"Damn you…" Shinn growled as he got up. But Rey and Youlan quickly restrained him. "What are you saying!"

"You're a jerk in battlefield, Shinn and a dangerous one at that"

Huh, you're just saying that because I killed your buddy, I killed your precious Freedom pilot," Shinn sneered.

Athrun stormed toward Shinn until they were just a meter apart. "Listen here and listen here good. While you're so busy trying to avenge Stellar, your callous act almost cost this ship its destruction. We could have help defeat Cherubim, but no, you're too busy with trying to get revenge for her. Maybe the real reason you fight like the way you did is because you're trying to appease your ego"

"YOU!" Shinn struggled against Rey and Youlan even more. Rey put his hand in front of Shinn and the hot headed pilot stopped moving.

Rey took a step forward. "Athrun, while it's true about what you said just now, don't you think that you're being too harsh on Shinn? In fact, he was merely following the strategy you suggested as a member of FAITH, and we managed to defeat Freedom. In fact, if we followed the original plan to attack Archangel instead of Freedom, we would have succeeded in defeating that ship as well instead of being in the current situation"

Athrun shook his head. "That may be true, but if we attacked Archangel at that time, Minerva would have faced off against both ships instead of just Cherubim. What do you think would be the result of that? Can you be sure that all of us are still here?"

Rey couldn't answer and kept quiet.

"Besides, if he really follows my order, we wouldn't be having this conversation, would we? You can go ahead and check the black box and see whether he follows my order not to attack the Murasame rashly. And you can see what happened after that"

"Che. You can give orders because you're a FAITH… Hmmph… If you aren't a FAITH member, I would have beaten you to pulp," Shinn spat.

Athrun looked at him for a long time. "Is that so?" He then removed the FAITH badge and handed it to Heine. "Very well, why don't we see you do that?"

"I'll get you!" Shinn struggled and managed to get free from Youlan. He then ran toward Athrun with his right fist drawn back. The latter merely just sidestepped and tripped him. Shinn tumbled to the ground unceremoniously. Not daunted, Shinn quickly got up and threw a punch at Athrun.

Athrun quickly moved to the side and pushed Shinn's arm. "During the fight with Freedom, this is how you pilot your mobile suit, Shinn"

Shinn executed a kick.

Athrun calmly caught hold of it. "You're an open book, Shinn…"

"Shut up!" With his right leg in Athrun's hand, he quickly jumped using his left, twisting his body at the same so that he could attack using his left leg.

But Athrun moved his body out of the way and releases his hold. Shinn fell to the ground on his side. "… and predictable"

Grunting, Shinn hurled himself at Athrun.

The FAITH member latter caught hold of his collar and raised him slightly off the ground, like holding a wild cat by its neck. He then let the tip of Shinn's feet touch the ground, but maintained the hold and forced him to look around. "Look, Shinn. Look at them closely. This is what you," Athrun corrected himself, "WE put at risk by not withdrawing from the battle" He let out a disappointed breath. "In fact, it is my fault for being unable to stop you" He let go off Shinn's collar. "You know Shinn, to tell you honestly, in front of all the people here, I think you're a very good pilot. In fact you're better than I was when I was your age. Before you mention it, Shinn, I might as well admit that I'm a bit jealous at your skills and abilities"

Murmur of surprise echoed throughout the hangar.

Shinn, not expecting such declaration after the humiliation Athrun subjected him to, couldn't say anything.

Athrun gave a small smile and whacked his back, sending him sprawling to the ground. "But you're good only if you think before you act. Otherwise, you're just a dumb jock" He then started to walk out of the hangar after taking the FAITH badge from Heine.

Shinn, still on the floor, turned around and watched him leaving numbly.

Lunamaria gave a look at Shinn and then followed Athrun. "You're very cool just now," she said when they're already in the corridor.

"No, I'm not," Athrun said.

"What are you talking about? That's the first time I see Shinn being unable talk back to anyone reprimanding him"

Athrun sighed. "I wasn't trying to boss him. It's just that he has a very great potential. Unfortunately his emotions impede his judgment" He chuckled sadly. "It seems that he's following my footstep"

"Athrun"

He looked at his hand as he fisted it "Although I tried to act brave, I'm afraid, Lunamaria.

"Afraid?"

"Yes, I'm afraid of my actions being wrong. Everyday I wonder to myself, 'Did I make the right choice or not?' It's just that… I…" he said, trailing off.

Lunamaria eyed him sympathetically. Then she made a resolve. "Athrun, do you know about a trick that will be able to snap you out of your current mood?"

Athrun turned toward her. "Huh?"

"Do you want to know about it?"

"Sure, I guess"

"In that case… HEY! WHAT'S THAT MAN OVER THERE DOING?"

Athrun turned toward the direction that was indicated to see that there was no one there. He turned back toward Lunamaria only to have her holding his head and planting a kiss on his lips. Frozen by shock, he stood by rigidly as Lunamaria planted her hands behind his neck and pulled him toward her. After some moments have passed, she slowly withdrew, smiling.

"What were you doing?" Athrun asked nervously.

Lunamaria raised her finger and waved it while winking at him. "It did the trick, is it?"

Athrun unconsciously put his fingers on his lips.

Seeing what he did, she looked away, trying to hide the crimson tint that colored her cheek. "Don't misunderstand that I'm trying to seduce you or something like that; despite me liking you. It's just that I'm grateful for you for taking care of us all this while"

"Luna…"

She hastily saluted him. "Well, I have some work to do. See you later" Lunamaria then ran off before he could even stop her.

_

* * *

_

"_Kira…"_

_He felt his eyelids were still heavy._

"_Kira"_

_The person's voice seemed so familiar to him. Was it Lacus_

"_Kira…"_

_Kira opened his eyes to see a familiar face framed with red hair looking at him. "Fllay"_

_She smiled. "You're awake now. I'm relieved"_

_Kira remembered the fight he had with Impulse and Gaia "I was defeated by him… I'm dead, aren't I?" _

_The red haired girl arched an eyebrow at his statement. "Dead? What makes you say that?"_

"_You're here with me" Kira looked down. "I can still remember that day"_

"_That day?"_

"_The day when I couldn't save you…," he whispered. "Providence destroyed the shuttle you were on. You… you… died," he finished in frustration. Somehow, the statement felt a bit out of place, but Kira was feeling drowsy and couldn't think straight. _

_Fllay smiled sadly. "It's alright. Maybe it works out for the best. I got what I deserved for what I did. I'm a useless person" A tear rolled down her cheek._

"_No! That's wrong. I don't know what people think about you, but you were there when I needed someone"_

"_But I was using you, trying to get you to fight other…" She didn't finish the sentence, but it was understood by Kira._

"_In that case, the two of us were the same. I was also using you and then cast you away when I felt guilty for being with you. Until now I still regretted not giving you the chance to say what you wanted to say that time"_

_She wiped the moisture on her cheek using the back of her hand "Don't worry. It's all in the past"_

"_Tell me"_

_She seemed a bit perplexed. "Tell you what?"_

_He looked at her pleadingly. "Please tell me. I wanted to know what you wanted to say at that time"_

"_You don't have to know, Kira"_

"_I want to know"_

_Turmoil could be seen on her face. "It's too late for me to be saying that. Forget about it"_

"_PLEASE!"_

_Fllay tried to say something but found herself unable to say it. She tried again, only to choke before she could even speak. The red haired girl gazed into her eyes looked at him and knew she had to do it for him. She took a deep breath and smiled. "Please return home, Kira. Please return home alive. I'd rather lose my life in exchange for you to be alive, because I have made a mistake. A wonderful mistake. I have…" Her voice began to disappear until all Kira saw were her lips moving._

_Then it became dark again_

Kira opened his eyes to see a blurry form peering at him. "What did you say just now? Please tell me again"

"Kira?"

The blurry form became clearer and Kira saw himself looking at Cagalli. Next to her was Mirrialia "Mirrialia? Cagalli? Where's she?"

"She?"

Kira let out a disappointed breath. "It's a dream, after all"

"What are you talking about, Kira?" Miriallia asked.

His hand traveled to his head and touched on the bandages on it gingerly. "No, I was just thinking"

"Well, good news! The doctor said that your injuries aren't that heavy," Cagalli said in a happy voice. "Now, you better get some rest…"

"But Freedom… without that, I can't fight my battle properly…"

"I heard that Impulse got you?" a masculine voice queried.

Kira turned to his left to see a smirking Neo Lornoke, wearing a white t-shirt. "Yes"

"Serves you right for getting owned by Impulse. The Impulse's pilot seemed like a competitive kid. He keeps getting better and better" The captured officer took a bite from his plate every now and then.

"Have you met him before?" Kira asked.

"Yup. Only once" He stared down on his plate. "The day when I made and broke my promise at the same time" Neo didn't say anything for some moment, as if in deep thought. Then he shook his head slowly and took a bite out of a piece of small bun before turning toward Kira. "You know, sometime I wonder about this ship and its personnel"

"Wonder?" Cagalli asked.

"Yeah. You fought against us recently. But now ZAFT is your enemy?"

"I guess," Miriallia said.

"I don't even want to know what's going on in your mind. But then again, it's what I expected out of this ship and its crew. Always getting in trouble" Neo's face changed as realized that he wasn't making any sense. He stabbed at the yellow of his sunny side up egg on his plate, watching as the yolk oozed out of the punctured area. "Anyway, kid," Neo said, referring at Kira, "It's a good thing you got me while I was piloting my Windam"

The trio looked at him strangely.

"Why is that?" Cagalli asked.

"Your captain doesn't date mobile armor pilots, right?" Neo waved his fork which had a half eaten sausage stuck to it. "Well, at least she knows that I'm a mobile suit pilot," he finished as he gulped down sausage.

"Emm… How do you know about that? Did she tell you that?" Miriallia asked innocently.

Neo's eyes became wide as he began to choke. Miriallia had to run to his side and slapped his back. After a while, he managed to recover. "What the! What kind of cruel punishment is that, trying kill me by getting me choked while eating"

"Hmmphh. It's your fault that you don't chew your food properly" Cagalli retorted.

Meanwhile, Kira had a soft smile on his face. Although he couldn't be sure, Mu was recovering his memory bit by bit.

* * *

Talia was in her room, looking at Gilbert's face on the screen. Next to her, Arthur stood rigidly. 

Gilbert was frowning. "Are you saying that Cherubim turned on us and decimated the whole force that was sent to capture Archangel?"

Talia nodded solemnly. "Yes"

"And it caused heavy damage to Minerva as well?

"Yes"

"How about our forces around the area? They should be able to defeat that single ship"

Talia sighed and said, "I'm sorry sir, but Cherubim was threatening to destroy the whole fleet with its nuclear arsenal if we don't allow it to go away"

"But that seems to conflict the report that I received…"

"Cherubim warned us not to alert the rest of the ZAFT forces"

"I see. So, all in all, you have failed miserably"

Arthur made some kind of a funny noise that sound as if a pig was being strangled to death.

Talia glared at him and he quickly stopped. "If you put it that way, then yes, we lost and failed in the mission"

Gilbert's frown disappeared as he put a finger under his chin, appearing thoughtful. "Why did it betray us? I thought that it's fighting for peace"

Talia contemplated whether she should tell him about what Barzhakov said or not. In the end, she decided to do so. "Curse the locust by pointing to the mulberry" she decided not to mention about Machieve, as she wouldn't know how he would react to it.

Gilbert thought about what she said for a few seconds. "Sigh, I thought that the mercenary can be trusted to assist you in the operation. They looked so earnest in their dealing" He shook his head. "Who would have thought that they neither as reliable nor as trustworthy as Serpent's Tail. I guess it is my fault for trusting them, which leads to this mission's failure. I'm truly sorry. We would deal with that brigand ship later. By the way, how's Athrun doing?"

"He tried to persuade Kira Yamato to surrender along with Archangel. But when the offer was denied, he, together with Shinn defeated Freedom"

Gilbert raised his eyebrows "Freedom has been defeated? By Gaia and Impulse?"

"Yes"

"I see. So the mission isn't a totally a failure at the very least"

"I'm sorry for retreating from the battle. I will be willing to accept any disciplinary action caused by what I did"

"No, what you did is the best and I believe you have weighed in other factors before making your decision. Right now I'm worried that this little setback will cause Archangel and Cherubim to become more arrogant and cause further disruptions to our fight for peace" He smiled. "Well, there's no point in thinking about that now. Right now we must get Minerva repaired at Gibraltar as soon as possible. In the mean time, please have the crew get as much rest as it can. Intelligence tells us that LOGOS will probably move against us pretty soon"

"Thank you very much" Both Talia and Arthur saluted as Gilbert did the same.

* * *

"I want my lawyer," Nash Jackson said, seated on a chair casually. 

Murrue looked at her 'guest'. Compared to Vincent who wore ORB uniform, Jackson had black Earth Alliance uniform on, similar to what Mu wore when she recovered him at Berlin. "There is no lawyer on board this ship"

"Under the First Amendment…"

Murrue mentally counted to ten in order to calm herself. "I know about that as well. I'm also from there"

"Then, you should know my right" He leaned back and his head behind his hands. "I want my Mister Snookum as well"

Murrue looked at Vince who shrugged. "Look, this is a military ship and we have no time to be fooling around and if you're as innocent as you claim, you will cooperate with us"

"So, what's the problem again?"

"Ezra, the pilot that saved Kira Yamato is missing"

"So… You put me under custody because of that. That's really great. Really great. This is the thanks I get for protecting this ship"

"Look, we're very grateful that you helped us, but that still doesn't change the fact that the pilot is missing and the two of you can help us locating her"

"How should I know?" Jackson said. "She's Vince's wingman… er… that's not politically correct… she's his wingperson"

Vince gave him a look that showed annoyance.

Murrue nodded. "That may be true. I'm sorry, but there's a very small chance that your captain sent someone else to into our ship, and you don't know about it. Although it's small, we cannot overlook it. That's why we seek your help"

"Oh… the sabotage thing" Jackson thought for a moment. "Oh, in that case, maybe you can check the reactors. In games, you will always meet the final bosses waiting for you at important stages, like near the power core or in the middle of earth..."

Murrue quickly pressed a button on the wall panel. "Dispatch security teams to the reactors" Then the captain turned away from the panel.

"I said maybe… and I was joking" Jackson said. "How come you're taking me seriously? Geez, if we want to destroy this ship, wouldn't it be better for us to just blast it away instead of sending an infiltrator? How come you're so uptight about such a small matter?"

"It comes in the job description," she answered, turning toward Vince. "While waiting for the security teams to scour the reactors, I have another question to ask you. I want to know how you bypass our security"

"Come again?" Vince said.

"I want to know how did you managed to access our weapons from outside. You managed to hack into Archangel's computer network and ordered a Strike Pack to be launched to you. I want to know how it is done"

* * *

Cagalli took a hold of her brother's hand and pulled it a bit. "Kira, it's too early for you to get yourself discharged from the infirmary" 

"Don't worry. The doctor said that the injury is not that serious," Kira said, waving it off. "I'm fine now, really"

She looked at the infirmary door as it closes behind them. "Oh, all right. But I'm going to follow you to your room just to make sure that you're not suffering from any relapse"

"I'm fine Cagalli, really I am"

"TORII!"

Kira looked as the green mechanical bird landed on his shoulder. "See, even Torii thinks so"

"TORII"

Cagalli gave him a skeptical look as they continued walking. "So what now?"

"I don't know. I've always been relying on Freedom all this while"

"But Athrun destroyed it…"

"Don't Cagalli. We can't really blame him" Kira was about to add when his Torii moved its head to the side.

"TORII?"

Kira looked at his pet. "What is it?"

"TORII!" The bird spread its wing and flew forward.

Kira raised his hand to call it back but in the end decided not to. He and Cagalli kept until they finally saw Torii standing in front of a door to a room. "What is it Torii?"

The bird glanced at him for a second before looking at the door once again. "TORII!"

Kira glanced at Cagalli who said, "I don't know. After all, Torii is your pet"

Sighing, he walked toward the door. "The room is empty, Torii"

"TORII"

The room numbers on Archangel has been changed due to some modification, but Kira felt that something was familiar about the room but he couldn't quite place it. "Do you want to enter the room, Torii?"

"TORII!" it replied while flapping its wings

Kira pressed the button and was surprised to find out that it was locked. "Strange. I don't know that empty room is supposed to be locked" He pressed the button again but was unable to open the door.

Cagalli was tapping her foot. "Come on Kira, we shouldn't waste our time exploring empty rooms"

"TORII!" the pet squawked, seemingly disagreeing with her.

Kira nodded, agreeing with his sister's comment. "Maybe the door malfunctioned. We'll get someone to repair it later. Come, Torii" The brown haired Coordinator was about to walk away from the room when he saw Torii tapping against the door. "All right, I'll give it a shot" He pressed some commands to hack the door mechanism. After a few seconds, the door opened to reveal a darken room. Torii flew inside. Curious about his pet's strange behavior, Kira entered, followed by Cagalli. Inside the room, he could see Torii standing on one of the beds. Then his eyes caught something else. Someone was lying on the bed, asleep. Despite the dark room condition, Kira's enhanced eyes could make out the general characteristics. But all thoughts flew out of the windows when his eyes caught hold of fiery crimson waves spread on the bed. "_Couldn't be…" _He slowly moved forward, as if afraid of what he'll find. He could hear his thumping heartbeats; they were deafening. Then he could finally saw the face. He knew the face very well, as he had few times woke up from his sleep to see the face; the face of the woman who held him close to her when he was nearly crazy with guilt after being forced to fight for the sake of his friends. The face of the woman to whom he had made love in what seemed like a lifetime ago.

"_Please return home, Kira" The woman was smiling_

"Couldn't be… it wasn't a dream!" Kira's hands were trembling.

"_Please return home alive._

"Fllay…"

* * *

**Author's note (17 June 2006)**

1. I've finally managed to write the scene! I know that this scene may not be surprising to some (Ok Zidane, you don't have to do that victory dance), but this is one of three scenes that I picked for their meeting. The other two are during Berlin (but I decided to forgo that one) and Battle of ORB (It's like the first time Athrun landed on Minerva after becoming a FAITH member and everybody gathered around him. Then he took off his helmet an introduced himself). Out of the three, I like this the best.


	28. The past that cannot be changed

Barzhakov entered the room, looking a bit annoyed. "What do you want, Dorothy? As you know, I'm a rather busy man"

"I know, but I want you to see this," Dorothy said as she removed the blanket off the sleeping body.

He raised his eyebrows at what he saw. A female ORB pilot was sleeping soundly on the bed instead of Fllay "What happened here?"

"I'm not sure, but it seemed that Fllay knocked her out using the tranquilizer"

"Tranquilizer? How did Fllay get hold of it?"

"I keep one ready just in case she needed to be sedated while she was recovering from her injuries"

"Let me guess, Fllay hijacked and piloted her Murasame," He rubbed his chin as he thought about it. "I see. Now it tallies up with Sammy's account about the pilot acting very strange"

"Should we go get her?"

"Unfortunately, it's already too late. She's landed on Archangel and we're thousands of kilometers away from that ship. We'll arrange some kind rendezvous with that ship later. But as for now, we still have a lot of work to do, thanks to Machieve betraying our hideout to Dullindal"

"Wait… what about our pilot here?"

"Wake her up and assign her to clean the washrooms. That will teach her to be on guard at all times"

"Is it okay to do that? She's from ORB after all"

"I don't care. As long as she's my ship, she follows the rules here. And the rules here states that idiots who let themselves be knocked out a tranquilizer have to clean the washrooms" After hesitating, he continued, "It's not that bad. When I was a rookie, I was ordered to clean the washrooms using a toothbrush. She, on the other hand can use any kind of tools she wants.

"But Captain, that's not fair to her," Dorothy protested. "You're making it as if it was all her fault"

"Of course not. That's why you're joining her as well"

"WHAT!"

"Someone has to show her how to do it"

"But… but why me?"

"It's your fault for leaving such a dangerous thing lying around unattended" Barzhakov answered. "I know that Fllay's not fit to active duty and we only brought her along on this ship because we're moving out of our base. I didn't comment on this fact earlier on, but there was no need for you to sedate her all the time. When she'll get back, she's going to get it for going out in her condition, but you're also at fault for what happened. Do you understand?"

Dorothy nodded solemnly.

The graying captain made a dismissive motion. "Don't get it get to you. We always make mistakes. Just remember to learn from them"

"I will"

He smiled. "Good. I can't be too harsh on you because I don't want you to skimp on tranquilizers whenever you treat me" Barzhakov began to walk when he stopped again. "By the way, about the tranquilizer you gave her, does it have any side effects?"

* * *

Kira moved slowly toward the still sleeping Fllay, afraid that any sudden noise or movement would cause the illusion to disappear. He then kneeled next to the bed by her feet, watching her, not believing that she was in front of him. Somehow his hand was trying to confirm her existence by touching her hair, but he caught hold of himself from doing so. Kira blinked his eyes. She was still there. Just as he was trying touch her cheek, Cagalli, who was watching the whole thing from outside the room stormed in. 

"Kira, what are you doing?"

Kira saw two grey orbs dawning from their eyelids and before he could say anything, the girl in front of woman has disappeared. A second later, Cagalli's cry of pain caused him to turn toward her. Fllay was twisting Cagalli's hand behind her and holding her neck in a lock. The two of them were facing toward the opened door, probably as a precaution by Fllay to ensure that she could see who was coming.

"Don't move" Fllay asked in a serious manner as she tightened her lock on Cagalli just as Kira, who was behind them, was about to reach out to her.

Kira ceased moving as he saw Fllay was only a few moments away from snapping Cagalli's spine. Even with his superior Coordinator reflex, he wasn't sure that he should take the risk. After all, he didn't want to hurt both of them.

"Who are you?" Fllay asked, obviously directing it to Cagalli.

"Unggh… That's the question… ugh… I'm supposed to ask you… you intruder," Cagalli said as she tried to loosen the hold using her other free hand.

Kira was about to say something when Fllay continued, "I'm the one asking the question here, so please answer. Are you one of them?" It was strange, but Fllay seemed to be oblivious of Kira being behind her.

"Them?" Cagalli questioned.

"Zyglene, or Djibril for that matter. Tell your employers that I'm not going back to being the ACCURSED anymore"

"ACCURSED!" Cagalli gasped. Anti Coordinator Combat Upgraded Sensory Enhanced Deacon. She has heard about EA conducting such experiments from her spies, but it was supposed to be a rumor. "You're an anti Coordinator Extendeds?"

"No, I'm just a pathetic woman," Fllay answered venomously.

"If you mean the Earth Alliance, then no, I'm not with them"

Fllay loosened the hold a bit, just enough for Cagalli to breathe easily. "Then what are you doing on Cherubim?"

Despite being in a rather dangerous situation, Cagalli answered in an angry voice, "Cherubim! Ugh! This isn't Cherubim! This is Archangel. You're trespassing on ORB's battleship Archangel"

"Archangel!" Panic began to seep through Fllay's voice. "This is Archangel? Oh my god… I'm supposed to land on Cherubim"

"But it seems that you landed on Archangel instead" Kira answered.

Fllay gasped and her body began to become very rigid. Cagalli who noticed that her captor's hold on her was loosening took the opportunity to get away. "Archangel… no…" her voice trailed as her consciousness left her and she collapsed into Kira who immediately caught hold of her. Kira was torn between relieve that she was real and worry that she has fainted for no apparent reason.

"I don't what's happening here, but it seems that Captain Murrue's missing pilot's mystery has been solved now," Cagalli said she moved to switch on the light. As the white light illuminated the room, Cagalli saw the unconscious woman's face and was shocked. "She… she… isn't she look like…"

Kira nodded, absentmindedly playing with few strands of red hair in his hand.

* * *

Jackson yawned while looking bored. "This is getting a bit tiresome, making us walk around the ship" In front of him were two guards while Murrue and another two were behind them. "I can't wait to see the so-called Japanese Bath that I heard the guards talking about" He chuckled. "Who would have thought that a ship like this have a big size bath. I'm going to write a petition for a swimming pool to be built on Cherubim" He looked around. "Are we there yet?" 

"Don't complain," Vince said. "It is part of our job"

"As prisoners. I suppose"

Murrue turned toward him and smiled. "We have never classified all of you as prisoners. In fact the reason I'm asking you to come along is because I need you to identify someone," she said as all of them entered a room.

Jackson looked at Kira who was sitting on the bed's side and whistled. "Kira Yamato. The Jachin Due ace"

"I don't mean him," Murrue said dryly.

Jackson turned and saw Cagalli. "Well, Ms. Representative Attha, also known as the 'Tomboy Princess' onboard our ship. Ah, sorry. I forgot that it was changed into 'The Prince'"

"Not me. Her!" Cagalli said while pointing toward Kira who moved away a bit to show the unconscious woman.

"She looks like Fllay" Vince commented.

There were murmurs inside the room.

"Yea… Resembles our hot headed red headed pilot all right. Wait till she hear about her double is onboard this ship," Jackson said.

"She's an ACCURSED," Cagalli said.

"Whoa! The resemblance is uncanny. She died too?"

"Jackson, you're an idiot…" The woman who was supposed to be unconscious said

"She even knows my name! My god! This is unbelievable!"

"Wilhelm's idiocy must have rubbed off on you," Fllay said as she put the back of her palm on her forehead.

"She's Fllay, Jackson," Vince clarified.

Jackson raised his eyebrows. "Oh, that's something unexpected, seeing you here. You're supposed to be resting on the infirmary bed on Cherubim right now"

"So I'm not onboard Cherubim. Where am I?" Fllay asked.

"You mean that you don't remember?" Vince asked. "You're onboard the famed Archangel"

She let out a long breath. "It wasn't a dream then. I must have landed on this ship by mistake"

Vince raised his eyebrows when a realization struck him. "Wait… you piloted the Murasame?"

"Yes"

"Where's Ezra?"

"She was sleeping when I left her"

Jackson loosened his collar "Huh! Is it me or is this room suddenly become stuffy?" He turned toward Murrue. "Okay, she's Fllay Alster, currently being stationed on Cherubim along with Vince and I. So what else do you want me to identify?"

Murrue's face was one of pure disbelieve. "Are you telling me that she's Fllay Alster!" She looked at the woman who was lying on the bed. "How!"

"The EA pilot did say that she has died before," Cagalli commented.

"Name's Jackson. Nash Jackson. Junior"

Murrue said, "But that's not supposed to happen. It's impossible,"

"But the fact is she's here, right in front of our eyes, just like Mu" Cagalli said.

"Captain Ramius, Representative Attha, please don't talk as if I'm not in the room right now," Fllay, whose hand was still on her head said.

"Captain," Kira said, "why don't we let her rest for a while?" He walked next to the bed, "Are you feeling okay, Fllay?"

Smoky suns met brown gems as they were locked to each other.

Kira noticed that her other hand was moving under the bed, probably to prepare hitting him. He smiled, preparing himself for the hit. But subconsciously, his body was preparing to receive a sudden force, such as a hug instead. Not more than a second has passed, but to him, it felt like an eternity as he waited for her reaction. Somehow he felt his heartbeats were erratic while his palms were sweaty.

"Excuse me, but who are you?" Fllay asked as she lowered her hand from her head.

Kira felt his eyes widened at the question.

"Fllay," Jackson said, "Are you saying that you don't know who this guy really is?"

"Sorry… But it's a bit blurry to me"

"He's Kira Yamato! _The_ Kira Yamato. The genius ace! The pilot that defeated the whole of ZAFT and EA all by himself at the Jachin Due"

"I didn't do it alone, Mr. Jackson," Kira said.

"Oh. Kira… Yamato. I remember now!" Fllay uttered.

Kira turned back toward her, hope rising in his heart that she finally remembered her. "You do?"

""You're quite famous for your skills. I'm Fllay Alster. Please to meet you"

He felt waves of disappointment sweeping his heart away. "Please to meet you too"

"Wait…" Jackson interrupted, "Don't tell me that you don't know him? You fought him like mad in Berlin and you don't even know him!"

"What do you mean?" Cagalli said.

"Shit…," Jackson uttered as he realized his slip of tongue.

Vince looked at everyone in the room and knew that there would be no use hiding it anymore. "She's Fallen's pilot,"

Cagalli's face turned red as she gritted her teeth. "Are you saying this… bitch… is the killer who killed so many of our men?"

Vince felt his jaw locked. He wasn't sure what should he do. While it was true that Fllay was the pilot who shot done so many of ORB's military personnel, but even he could understand why she did it and couldn't really blame her. After all, Terrence did point out correctly that Impulse would have gotten them anyway. He decided to tell the truth while explaining to everyone in the room about the reason why she did what she did. But before he could reply, Fllay answered first.

"Yes, if you really want to know, I'm the one who shot them"

"Fllay!" Jackson cautioned.

"She wanted to know about it so I'm telling her truth"

"But..."

Cagalli stormed toward the bed. "Why! Why did you kill them?"

Fllay looked at her in the eyes for quite some time before replying, "Why not?"

Cagalli kept her hands by her side, clearly restraining herself. "How can you say that! Are you suggesting that their lives are of no value?"

"I don't think so, but if you really want me to adapt to your way of thinking, then yes, their lives were cheap"

"YOU…" Cagalli was doing all she could to keep her anger in check.

"Isn't that's war all about?" Fllay continued. "Isn't it only in war can you see that the lives of many people are insignificant compared to select few?"

"The lives of many… are more important than these so called elites"

"But it was because of one of those elites that I killed few of her soldiers"

"What are you saying?" Cagalli asked with an edge to her voice.

Fllay raised herself to a sitting position. "What I am saying is that in order to preserve a very important person, I am willing to sacrifice some of her men. It is as simple as that"

Cagalli wanted to rebuke the statement when she realized its real meaning. "Are you saying that you shot them down because of my sake?"

"That time I did what I thought as the right thing to do"

"Don't you have any conscience? Don't you have even a bit of regret for all that you have done!"

Fllay gave a small mirthless smile. "Why should I? I don't have such a useless emotion to begin with. After all, what's the use? No matter how much we regret something, no matter how much we want to go and change the past, what was done was done. You can't undo it"

Her face was seemed emotionless as she said that, but Kira felt that he could feel a great deal sadness emanating from her as she said them. He went to Cagalli's side and put a hand on her. "Cagalli, what's done is done. This is war, after all"

"But Kira, she's saying that she killed them just to save me," Cagalli's voice was breaking a bit. "I…"

"You're a very important person to ORB" Unexpectedly, the comment came from Fllay. "Without you, there would be no one to guide ORB"

Cagalli was caught off guard by her comment.

"If they followed your order that day and stopped attacking Minerva, what do you think would have happen? The Earth Alliance would have attacked you, perhaps with disastrous result"

"Kira would have protected me from their attacks"

Fllay turned toward Kira and gave him a long gaze. Kira was transfixed by her eyes. Fragments of his memory began to surface and replay inside his mind.

_He was in his own room, recovering from the shock he experienced over Earth reentry when she came to him. Her arrival was not unwelcome; for Kira, she was his refuge from the cruel war. That was why when she offered her lips to him, he didn't resist. In fact he took more than a kiss as he released all of his bottled up feelings. She was there, holding him. And when he began to clumsily undress her, it was her hands that helped him. In the end, they made love. Their love making was a bit different that time as there was no urgency and unbridled lust, only gentle passion as they really take their time to be together. An hour later, both of them were lying on his bed, naked and tired; but satiated and glowing from the feeling of closeness and connectedness. He was about to go to sleep when Fllay, who was lying on top on him called him. _

"_Kira?"_

"_Um?"_

"_Are you asleep?"_

"_Not yet" He gripped her slender shoulders tenderly. "Do you want to say something?"_

"_No, I'm just wanted to know whether you are asleep or not"_

_He raised his head toward her and kissed her forehead. _

_Fllay was surprised by the sudden gesture by him. "Kira…"_

_Kira smiled. "Fllay, I know that you have something in your mind that bothers you"_

"_No, it's nothing"_

"_Tell me," he coaxed gently. _

"_I…" She finally buried her head on his chest. "Kira… I'm afraid"_

"_Afraid?"_

"_I know this sounds silly, but I feel lonely… And I'm afraid of that"_

"_You're afraid of being alone?"_

"_Yes" Fllay hugged him even closer to her. _

"_But before this you have," he gulped, "Sai and the others"_

_She shook her head. "It's different. People see me as very fortunate for being rich and the daughter to an influential figure. But that doesn't stop the ache in my heart. I feel as if I'm nobody without my father. And now… I really feel that I'm just a nobody. That's why…"_

"_Fllay"_

"_I'm sorry. I must be boring you," She looked away. "Go to sleep, Kira"_

_He rocked her body slowly. "Fllay, if you allow me, then I will protect you from the loneliness and everything else"_

_Her eyes were wide. "Do you really mean that?"_

"_Only if you allow me"_

_She was very quiet for a long time. Kira was about to ask her when he felt his chest becoming damp with silent tears._

"_Fllay?"_

"_Thank you, Kira" she sobbed into his chest. "Thank you. I know that I can't offer anything much, but thank you. Thank you"_

"_Shh…You don't have to. All you need to do is be truthful to yourself. And I will protect you" he said as he put his arms behind her exposed back and pulled her toward "I'll protect you always" He then pressed his lips against hers and began to show to her what he meant by his promise._

"I do admit that Mr. Yamato is a very capable pilot, but even he couldn't protect your mobile suit and Archangel simultaneously at that time," Fllay's voice brought Kira out of his reverie. "Besides, you're putting pressure on him to do everything"

"I do not!" Cagalli huffed.

"Then you should always remember that no matter how much you want to be out there with your troop, you worth more to ORB as a live leader than a dead heroine"

"How about you, then? The mass murderer? How much is your worth? Does it depend on how many ORB people you kill?"

"Cagalli!" Murrue called out. She has never seen Cagalli act like that. Despite young woman being angry, she shouldn't have said such a thing.

"Well, who knows?" Fllay answered. "Do you count how many people you have killed to be sure that you're a good person?"

Cagalli was about to retort back when Kira put a hand on her shoulder to restrain her.

"That's enough, Cagalli"

"But Kira…"

"What has happened has happened. So there's no point in arguing like this. Currently, Cherubim is our ally against ZAFT and we should be courteous to its personnel.

Cagalli shook his hand away and stormed out of the room.

Murrue looked at her leaving and then looked at Kira before addressing Fllay. "I'm sorry about what had happened. You see, Representative Attha is…"

"a spirited person. I know. I understand her view very well"

"Please rest, Ms. Fllay," Kira said. He had tried to use her surname instead of her own, but he felt that calling her by her family name didn't seem right. He then turned toward the others to signal them to go out of the room.

Once all of them were out of the room, Murrue looked toward Vince. "Are you sure that you're telling us the truth when you said that you didn't hack Archangel's computer?"

"I didn't," Vince said. "I saw the drone came up to me and immediately assumed that you launched it to help me"

"Strange" Murrue commented.

"What is?" Kira asked; his mind was still on the girl in the room they have just left.

"Mirrialia told me that neither she nor Murdoch authorized the launch. Vince here didn't hack into the computer"

"You mean the Striker Pack?"

"Yes. Subsequent tracing by our security showed that the launch was initiated with proper authorization code, but it was done from outside the ship"

"That's a bit out of place," Kira agreed, paying a bit more attention to the conversation.

"There was no need to hack into the computer as it can be initiated easily with the correct code. And it strikes me that the code hasn't been changed since the previous war"

Kira now turned toward her. "Are you saying that she did it?"

Murrue shrugged. "I don't know but what happened is for the best"

Kira turned back toward the room. _"Maybe she remembered a bit from her past? Even if it's just a bit, it will be a start"_

_

* * *

_1

_

* * *

_  
**Author's note (8 July 2006)  
**

1. Sorry for not updating earlier, but I really, really take my time in doing this chapter. I keep tinkering and tinkering with this, adding and removing some parts until I feel that if I don't update this soon, I can't concentrate on my Statistic paper which is due later this month. So, know that I update it, I can rest assure that for the duration of the month, I'll be able to concentrate on the assignments I owe the lecturer. Or maybe not.

2. To be honest, I feel that it's worth it for me to be writing thousands and thousands of words just to get to this chapter, especially their lovemaking scene. I've been asked why am I doing a Fllay x Kira, and let's be honest. I can expand a lot on Kira X Fllay without making them too much out of character. I can't write a Lacus and Kira love making in a similar fashion. I can write a scene similar like that, but somehow... It's hard to write about them without resorting to the conventional scenes. I do read some of the Kira and Lacus fics and few of them are excellent (especially those written by non-exteremist writers).

* * *


	29. It's a misunderstanding!

Meyrin yawned and stretched as she looked at the screen at her station. Despite being heavily battered in the fight with Cherubim, Minerva was slowly making its way toward Gibraltar on autopilot and that leave most of its bridge crew without anything to do. Out of boredom, she surfed the Internet, realizing that she could land in hot water if she was caught doing so. Accessing information networks outside the ship was prohibited as it could jeopardize the ship's network security. But Meyrin, aside from being an information expert was also a skilled network security maintainer. As such, she could easily detect and react to possible threats. Of course, her skills also allowed her to erase all traces of her accessing the outside networks.

She looked at her watch. It was already past her duty time. Getting up, she wondered what she should do. Deciding that perhaps she could go and annoy her sister, she set out in search of Lunamaria. She passed a couple of female technicians when her sharp hearing caught their conversation.

"Have you heard about the latest rumor?" one of them said.

"Which one?" another one asked.

"About Commander Athrun"

"What about him?"

"I heard that he slept with another pilot"

"WHAT?" The girl shrieked.

"Shh…" The technician looked around.

"But… but… I was hoping that he's available…"

"It's just a rumor though. Come, let's go to somewhere safe and I'll tell you about the details" she continued as they walked away.

If the technicians looked at Meyrin, they would have been surprised by her pale face.

* * *

Athrun was walking along the corridor, arms crossed and deep in thought. He had a lot on his mind lately, from him fighting against Kira to the kiss he shared with Lunamaria. Unconsciously, his hand moved to his mouth again. Although the kiss did make him forget about the personal problem he was facing at that time, it actually brought more problems than solve them. He would have put the matter behind him, but it seemed to him that Lunamaria has been avoiding him ever since day they had kissed.

He had to admit that the kiss was nice, but he felt guilty for enjoying it as it made him feel that he was cheating on Cagalli.

But the kiss was still nice, though.

"Off in the La La Land again, Commander?" a boyish voice from behind broke him out of his train of thought.

He turned his head to the back. "Oh, it's you, Shinn"

Shinn was looking at him with an unreadable expression.

Athrun noticed that the pilot in front of him had his hands inside his pockets. At that sight, Athrun relaxed a bit. At least Shinn wasn't showing any sign of wanting to fight him. He only let out a thin lipped smile, as he didn't want Shinn to mistake it as an insult. "So, how can I help you?"

Shinn let out a long breath. "Commander, can I talk to you in private?"

"Sure, as long as you're not going to call me by that name"

A few minutes later, they arrived at the observation deck of Minerva. The sea was calm as the damaged ship continued with its journey, probably a good omen compared to the series of bad lucks the ship has been having lately. Athrun, with his hands on the deck's railing, looked at a flight of seagulls flying over head. "We'll reach land soon" he said. When he didn't receive any reply from Shinn, he glanced at him only to see that the boy was watching the damaged parts of the ship silently. He looked back toward the seagulls, leaving Shinn with his own thoughts.

Five minutes later, Shinn broke the silence between them. "The ship's in a very bad condition, isn't it?"

Despite knowing that Shinn couldn't see him, Athrun nodded. "Yes. But it's nothing our guys couldn't fix"

Shinn was quiet again for a moment. "I'm sorry"

"Excuse me?"

Shinn bowed toward. "I'm sorry for being a jerk that day. I'm sorry for disobeying your order. If I listened to what you said, perhaps this ship wouldn't be in such a sorry state"

Athrun leaned on the railing as he didn't want Shinn to see a smile on his face. "May I know who are you and what you have done with the real Shinn?"

Shinn made a huffing sound. "Dammit, it's already hard for me to apologize without you having fun at my expense!"

Athrun chuckled. "I was just joking. You don't have to be so tense about it"

"Yeah, right" Shinn moved next to him. They continued to stare toward the ocean together for a long time. Finally, he continued, "Actually, Freedom was there when my family perished"

"And you blame the pilot for killing your family?"

"In a way, yes. I don't know who was the one firing the shot, as there a few of them fighting that time. However, it's a fact that they were there at that time" He glanced at Athrun. "All I can say is that Justice weren't there"

"That's why you can still talk to me?"

Shinn nodded. "I couldn't simply forgive them. What happened that that has been etched in my mind" Shinn had a forlorn look on his face as he stared ahead. "You know, things could have been different if they weren't there at that time. Perhaps my family is still alive and I would still be in ORB, living under the big illusion that ORB would be okay, as long as it remain neutral. A big, fat lie that Nuzumi asshole said"

"I see" Athrun said while supporting his chin on his palm. He didn't feel comfortable hearing Shinn lambasting Cagalli's father, but he had to hear the other man' side of the story. "And why did you say that Attha killed your family?"

"Because it was his shit of an idea to simply defend the island instead of actively protecting it by striking at the Earth Alliance fleet at that time"

"ORB was trying to be neutral, Shinn"

Shinn turned to glare at Athrun but managed to cool down and looked to the front again. "Let's see you trying to be 'neutral' when I try to punch you again in the future," he snorted. "That kind of reasoning is the stupidest and most foolish idea I've ever heard. Hell, he even tops Djibril in the stupidity department"

"Shinn…" Athrun said, warning evident in his tone and fists clenched.

Shinn didn't look at him. "If you want to punch me, go ahead and do it. I thought that you can be 'neutral' enough to hear my opinion on that man"

Realizing that Shinn had a point, Athrun shook his head, trying to control his own feeling. "Is that why you hate the Attha family so much?"

"I despise him very much. I didn't realize at that time, but he kept making one stupid mistake after another that I'm ashamed to admit that I came from ORB. Another one example of his shinning moment of stupidity will be him blowing up the mass driver"

"He did it so that the Earth Alliance wouldn't be able to use it"

"Hah! And did the Earth Alliance leave quietly after it blew up? If you don't recall what happened, let me tell you something. They didn't. And guess what happened to the refugees that didn't get away in time. The fucking bastards took it out on them. And where is our ever wise leader when that happened? Somewhere in hell, I hope. And why is that? It's because he blew himself up along with the parliament members. Selfish bitch" Shinn chuckled mirthlessly.

"What he did wasn't selfish, but noble, Shinn"

"Oh, let me admit, the sacrifice does seem noble to many people. But to me, that is just a coward's way out of responsibility. He knew that he couldn't face the nation after he had screwed it with his hogwash principles. Fucking retard" Shinn turned again toward Athrun, his flashed red with anger. It was obvious that he hated Uzumi with a vengeance. "You want noble? A noble thing to do would have been to face up to the consequence of his act and perhaps help in rebuilding the nation after the war. That's a noble thing to do, Athrun. Do we see that goat doing it? No. Being a 'great' man that he was, he blew himself up and thanks to his 'noble' act, the present ORB parliament is filled with morons, idiots and LOGOS lackeys"

Athrun didn't knew what to say but it seemed that Shinn seem to take the matter about what happened to ORB personally. "Deep down, you care about ORB, don't you?"

The question caught the younger man off guard and he was silent

"That's why you're telling me about all of its faults. If you really don't give a damn about it you wouldn't be so pissed off by what happened recently" Athrun said, finishing his analysis of Shinn. He then waited for a response.

After a while, Shinn began to laugh bitterly. "You're right. Despite the crappy and shitty leaders like Uzumi and Yona, I still care about that country. It was my family's home, after all. But that doesn't mean that I will wait stupidly for any ORB pilot to shoot me down in the battle just because Djibril told him to do so. Ah, to think that I used to look up to the old fart. How times has changed"

"How about you Shinn?"

Shinn gave him a questioning look.

"You said that Uzumi is a coward for killing himself rather than atone for his decision. That maybe true, Shinn, but how about you? You said that he had abandon ORB…"

"He did"

"Yes, but how about you Shinn? Despite the country's faults, Shinn, would you just abandon it? Or will you come back to it after the war ends, to help in the restoration?"

"Why should I?"

"Just few seconds ago, you said that you still care for it. But do you care enough not to abandon it; to protect it when the time comes?"

Shinn had to look away. "I don't know"

Athrun sighed. "Then until you do, you can't say that you're any different. I joined ZAFT to protect PLANT so that there wouldn't be another tragedy like Junius 7. Despite being in ORB for the past few years, I still thought about my homeland from time to time. Do you remember when you asked me about why I'm in ORB?"

"Yeah" Shinn said, still looking away.

"At that time, I can't answer you because I don't know the answer myself. But if you ask me now why am I here now…"

Shinn turned back to him. "You're here to protect PLANTs. Yeah, that's okay with you since PLANTs don't screw you up"

"Places cannot screw people; people screw other people. Don't let your hatred over Nuzumi to influence you on other matters pertaining to ORB"

"So you're telling me it is okay to hate him as long as I don't hate ORB?"

"No. I can't tell you that. That's your call. But at least think about it"

The boy looked at the sky, thinking. "But I think it's already too late for me. I have killed many of them. I can already be considered a traitor"

"Maybe that's what Nuzumi thought when he blew himself up"

"Don't compare me with him!"

"I'm not. I'm just pointing out that you're in a similar situation. Like you said, because he blew himself up, he can't help in the restoration of ORB. But you can still do it, if you really want to"

Shinn gave Athrun a hard look. Then a genuine smile appeared on his face as he extended his hand to Athrun. "I guess you're right. I can't promise you anything since it's my call after all, but I'll think about it. I want to thank you for listening to my problems and ranting"

Smiling, Athrun took his hand and shook it. "It's my pleasure"

"As much as I hate to admit this, you're like a big brother that I've never had. You're supportive," he winced, "but wouldn't take bullshits from me"

"And you fill in the role of a brat of a brother that I've never had just nicely"

"HEY!"

"Kidding"

"Whatever. Well, I've got to be going" Shinn was about to leave the place when he cursed. "Damn!"

"What's wrong?"

"Something entered my left eye" Shinn said as he rubbed it.

"Don't rub it"

"It itches!"

Sometime it was exactly the Coordinators' strengths that became their weaknesses. Although they have more sensitive eyes and thus would be able to view things better, the sensitivity came with a price. Their eyes were more sensitive to foreign objects entering them.

"Let me try to blow it out of your eyes" Athrun said as he leaned and blew gently over Shinn's eye. "Better?"

"Yeah. I can feel it moving"

Athrun blew it again.

"I'm okay now," Shinn said. "Thanks"

"Good" Athrun said as he straightened up. It was then he saw Meyrin was looking at the two of them with a shocked look, mouth gapping. "Meyrin?"

Meyrin closed her mouth and looked down. "It's okay… I understand"

"Huh?"

She raised her head and tried to smile but it didn't come out as she wanted it to be. "I don't think it's a bad thing, really"

"What are you talking about Meyrin?"

"All this time, I should have notice the rather bright red color scheme on your mobile suits… And you always seem a bit too gentlemanly and polite to women…"

Athrun's eyes widened. "Wait. This is not…"

She clasped a hand over her breast. "It's okay. I think it doesn't matter. What matter is that the two of you are happy with each other. Don't worry about me, I'll keep your secret" She then turned and ran inside.

"Meyrin, wait!" He held out his hand but she had already gone. Athrun stared at the opened door. Shinn's laughed broke him out of his reverie. "What's so funny?"

"Looks like Meyrin thinks that you're gay, Athrun," Shinn said, chuckling,

"You must help me explain it to her"

"Why should I? I can already picture it now, 'The famed Athrun Zala seeks a man's hand in wedding'"

"You're an IDIOT! If she thinks that I'm a gay, what does that make you?"

"Huh?" Shinn uttered intelligently.

"She found _us_ just now. US! As in 'you and me'"

"You mean…"

"YES! She thought that I was making out with you!"

"SHIT!" Shinn turned and dashed inside, in pursuit of Meyrin

* * *

"Hey, don't touch that!" Terrence cautioned the ORB pilot, a cute looking brunette.

"Why?" she asked. "It's just a paper flower"

"Ezra, I heard that you were knocked out by tranquilizer. Touch that thing and maybe the next time maybe you would get industrial strength arsenic instead"

She quickly withdrew away her hand that wanted to take the paper flower that was lying on a table. "It's hers?"

Terrence tried to stifle a grin from forming on his face. He was joking about the arsenic part; who knows the female pilot would take it seriously. "Should be"

"So, the Fallen's ace pilot, who fought the legendary Kira Yamato to a standstill in Berlin, a daring woman who drugged me, then somehow managed to board and hijack my mobile armor so that she went out on an unsanctioned rescue party, which in turned caused me to be assigned on sanitary engineering duty, likes origami, a flower origami no less?"

"That's a pretty long sentence you use there, but that's pretty much sums it up"

"Strange"

"Yeah, that's our Fllay. Strange"

Ezra raised her eyebrows. "Do you know why she likes to fold origami flowers?"

"I don't really know the real story about it, but she once told me that whenever she felt insecure or scared, she always folds a paper flower. It made her felt safe"

"Why not plant a real flower? It's more beautiful than a paper flower"

"I asked her about that and she told me that it was exactly the same reason that she likes the paper flower" Terrence folded his arms. "Ah, I don't know what that means but everyone knows that the paper flower couldn't compare with a real one. The color, smell, texture, shape and beauty, the characteristics that make a natural flower, aren't there on a paper flower. Of course, I'm willing to concede that it lasts longer"

"A paper flower is like a monochrome flower, without the natural shades," Ezra commented. "And it doesn't really last that long"

"That's what I told her. And you know what she told me recently? She feels that her life is similar to the paper flower" Terrence kept quiet for a moment and was about to continue when the computer next to him beeped. He walked toward it and typed something, smiling. "After all this time, he finally replies to my message."

"Who?"

"Just an email friend from Burgundy"

Ezra growled. "Don't you have anything else to do? We are in the middle of a war here"

"Hey! Just because we're at war doesn't mean we have to forsake everything else. Understanding each other is important to, you know. We make peace and learn to live together with each other. The Naturals have to learn many Coordinators were not born because they wanted to; the first generation Coordinators have Natural parents. At the same time, the Coordinators cannot remain in their so-called 'heaven'. That's why I'm here"

"I've heard from others that you're a sex maniac and just wanted to get into the Natural women's bed"

He laughed. "Oh great, someone got to you before me. It's okay, you can go and ask anyone whom I've slept with whether I'm gentle in bed or not"

"And who would that be?"

Terrence smiled. "Why don't you ask the people who told you about me being a pervert?" He beckoned toward. "Would you like to see video from Fallen's black box? I've wanted to access it ever since Berlin but with so many things happening, it slipped off my mind"

Ezra moved next to him and watched the screen. She couldn't believe her eyes. "Her reaction is very fast"

"Not surprising. Some Naturals are known to have faster psychomotor response than Coordinators"

She saw Fllay making a hand signal. "She prays while fighting?"

"Actually, that is one of her triggers"

"Triggers?"

Terrence looked at the woman next to him. "The Extended laboratories have been experimenting on this kind of respond triggering. When she made a certain signal, it will cause her body to respond accordingly. For example, the one you just saw now is what I would call 'overclocking'. The signal would force her body to respond at extremely higher speed, but at the cost of shortened fighting duration. I'm not sure about other signals, but I heard Sammy saying about how Fllay have a block signal that dampens her emotive functions"

"As in killing her emotions?"

"The emotions are still there and she felt it, but physically, she seems like a bit heartless or unemotional" Terrence looked back at the screen and was caught by what he saw. He quickly entered some commands and the computer processed what he was watching and presented him with a new one. He was quiet for a long time until he continued silently, "Have you heard about SEED?"

"I've heard it from Dr. Erica. Superior Evolutionary Element Destined-factor. It's believed that people with SEEDS will determine the course of human evolution. It was said that the people with SEED ability are able to think faster and react better to situations. However, the theory is largely unproven"

"So, have you heard about APEX?"

"I've heard it's being mention, but I don't know about it"

"APEX, an acronym for Alternate Path Evolutionary X-factor, is believed to be another possible permutation of humankind's evolution. While SEED is attributed to the higher brain domain, APEX was basically another kind of SEED that operated on instinctive level. I believe that APEX was more likely to be found on Naturals than Coordinators as it's caused by bizarre gene mutation. Coordinators, due to their 'perfect' gene blueprint, have a very low chance of having the gene.

"So what's the difference between APEX and SEED?"

"I'm not sure. But it seems that an APEX carrier has a higher regenerating ability, ability to handle very high stress, ability to sense people around and faster reflex. In fact, he can be more than a match for a Coordinator in battle" He smiled. "Although going by the definition, it sounds as if I'm describing a German Shepherd"

"But that sounds as if it's only good for fighting"

"Well, yeah, and maybe that's how the Berserker myth comes from. After all, APEX is called as SEED's 'evil' counterpart"

"How do you distinguish the two?"

"An APEX carrier's irises will turn golden when he's extremely excited or agitated, no matter what is their original color. You know…"

"Yes?"

Terrence closed his eyes, seemingly deep in thought, "Sometimes we think that we know everything about a person; only to be proven wrong in a single step. What an irony when it happens"

"Look, if you think that my judgment will be influenced by what people say, you're wrong. I can form my opinion about you by myself"

He opened an eye. "I wasn't referring to you"

* * *

1

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**Author's note (30 July 2006)**

1. Sorry to keep all of you waiting, but I have a statistic paper and since I have to fork out a month's salary to pay for the course, well, unevitably it will take precedence to all other things I am doing.

2. Some of you would have expected more of Kira and Fllay's interaction in this chapter. Unfortunately for you, I do like being a tease. Apart from that, I do want to resolve the issue between Athrun and Shinn first. In my opinion, the director of Gundam Seed and the script's writer (the whatever his name and his wife) originally wanted to Shinn and Athrun to be like protege and mentor kind of relationship. However, the two of them (the director and the writer) are quite known to produce excellent stories, only to have them degenerate toward the end. So... I guess, I'll put in my opinion of 'what should have been'.

3. Shinn's opinion about Nuzumi is rather harsh, but when I think about what he would have felt, I guess he might have feel it that way. In fact, when I write his part, I could feel anger building in me over Nuzumi's action. Strange. I don't know whether among all of you readers is a Nuzumi fan, but this chapter is my take on why Shinn hates Attha very much.


	30. The future of humankind's tomorrow

Kira stood in front the wreckage of Freedom, assessing the damages done to it. Noticing that he was there, Murdoch walked toward him.

"Pretty gruesome, huh?"

He nodded. "I must be lucky to be alive despite the damage"

"You managed to evade at the very last minute. That pretty much increased your chance of survival to about 40"

"How did they recover this?" he asked, gesturing toward the wreckage. "And besides, I was probably crashing toward the ocean at terminal velocity. So the impact should have killed me"

"She was the one who caught your mobile suit and brought it to the ship"

"Fllay?"

Murdoch scratched his head with a spanner as he wondered on how to answer the question. He finally settled on a simple one. "Yeah"

"How did it happen?"

"Well, you were crashing toward the ocean when her Murasame came along and grabbed you. Both your mobile suits then made an emergency landing" Murdoch pointed toward some large scratch marks on the floor of the hangar. "See? Both of you were tumbling toward the hangar at such a high speed that we were afraid that we wouldn't be able to stop both of you from colliding with the hangar" He pointed toward another entangled part. "Her Murasame's legs. They came right off after both of your mobile suits touched the landing area. She probably detached it on purpose, seeing that there's no damage to the detached parts"

"So how did we come to a stop?"

"Good thing the hangar door was able to absorb the force of the collision. God knows how scared shitless I was when I saw such a big mass came rolling toward me." He put his hands on his hips and chuckled.

The younger man looked at his companion "Is there something funny?"

"Now that I think of it, both of your mobile suits tumbling together at that time seems quite funny and humorous"

Kira felt that Fllay probably caused their mobile suits to tumble so that the length of the collision could be lengthened, probably to ensure that he wouldn't be injured by the landing. He smiled thinly as he realized that she did that without knowing whether he was alive or not. Or did she know about him being alive? After all, the dream he recalled having was so real that it almost convinced him that she still remembered him.

"Sir!" one of Murdoch's men called out to him.

"What is it?"

"What shall we do with this?" the man asked while holding something white in color. "I found it while cleaning her cockpit," the man answered while motioning at Fllay's Murasame.

"Just throw away that thing. Now, Kira, where were we just now?"

Kira glanced briefly at the man and suddenly felt his head jerked in that direction again. He felt his curiosity piqued and he began walking toward the man to have a better look at the object.

"Wait!" Someone's voice echoed throughout the hangar, causing everyone to turn their heard toward the source.

It was Fllay running jogging up to the mobile suit's cockpit. She was wearing a uniform similar to what Fllaga was wearing when they brought him in, except that she wore white gloves as well. "I forgot about that. Here, let me take care of it"

"Sure" The man said as he handed her the object.

She instantly crushed the white object using her both hands and place it inside her pant's pocket. Then Fllay leaned toward the man.

Kira felt a twinge of jealousy as it was as if she was kissing the man's cheek. It didn't help at all that the man was smiling from ear to ear as he nodded.

"No problem," the man said.

Fllay withdrew. "Thank you"

"My pleasure"

Kira could only watch as Fllay left the hangar. Meanwhile, the man continued back on his own job, humming merrily.

* * *

A ZAFT officer was standing on the platform, overseeing the construction. He was so busy and engrossed in his work that he didn't notice the newcomers. Only when he heard the sound of a throat clearing did he turn to face them. His expression changed to display surprise before he caught himself and saluted. "Sir!" 

Dullindal raised his hand to salute. "How's the progress on our work?"

The officer handed a tablet computer to Dullindal who looked at it. "It's progressing quite smoothly. The test flights of mobile suits Arbitrator, Destiny, Legend, Valkyrie and Crusader have just concluded. The full optimization of both Arbitrator and Destiny to their pilots' combat capabilities would be carried out soon"

"Very good" Dullindal passed the tablet back and turned toward the mobile suits. "I just hope that with these mobile suits and SALVATION, we can quickly bring the war to an early end"

"That's a noble intent, sir"

"Taking up arms in order to end the war". Gilbert chuckled mirthlessly. War. Actually, he wasn't worried at ending the war at all. To him, the war was a necessary evil in order to ensure the survival of the Coordinators race. The report from the Family Planning Unit pointed to a stark problem overshadowing the Coordinators. Statistics showed that unless the Coordinators receive genetic inputs from Naturals, Coordinators would be wiped out in five generations. But the present peace treaty only provided temporary peace at best. What was more needed was the reconciliation between Naturals and Coordinators. But in order to achieve that, the faulty peace treaty must be breached. Only then LOGOS, the malignant tissue cell that forever prevents Naturals and Coordinators from working together, could be removed surgically.

Of course, the consequence of such action would be a war breaking out, causing countless lives to be lost on both sides. But to Gilbert, such a cost would be quite cheap compared to the eradication of Coordinators. If that happens, humanity would suffer an even greater loss. He wasn't narcissist enough to know that the Naturals wouldn't probably care about what will happen to Coordinators, but if that happens, then human being will lose the opportunity to evolve. It was Glenn, the first Coordinator who revealed that such possibility can be done when he revealed the secret to creating Coordinators, people with various talents that was hoped to be ushers for humanity as it embarked on a greater path of evolution chain.

However, to Gilbert, despite his intelligence, Glenn was simply a bumbling idiot. He only thought about how to help humanity create Coordinators by modifying their genes, but not expect the problems caused by his reckless and selfish act in forcing the secret down the throat of humans who were unprepared for it. Gilbert called it selfish because it was Glenn who used the word Coordinator to describe himself, setting the precedence for that word to be used describe people who had their genes modified. Countless wars and confrontations were waged because of that word; the word that was twisted to signify a superior human race, a concept that corrupted people like Patrick Zala and invoking jealousy in people like Azrael Murata and Lord Djibril, to name a few.

So, it was up to people like Gilbert to solve the problems. The peace plan that he hoped to introduce to Earth and PLANTs would address Glenn's sins and will create an everlasting peace for the human race. Then maybe he didn't have to sully his hands with various underhanded tactics and maneuvering. Honestly, he was getting a bit tired of all that. But until he forged that peace, he wouldn't stop. He will create an era where there will be no war and fighting. And he could almost see the dawn of the era arriving, with him leading the whole humankind toward it. "By the way, how about SALVATION?"

"Few of the JEBAT units are being integrated on it even as we speak" The officer said while pointing to a big hexagonal object that reminded Dullindal of a honey comb. "That unit and the others will be shipped to Messiah tomorrow"

"How about the other test?"

"The Dark Phase system has been tested successfully. I'm sorry it took us this long to produce the system. If only we didn't lose the ZGMF-X12A, it would have been easy for us to replicate its stealth system…"

"It's okay. Just have everything ready as soon as possible"

"But, Mr. Chairman, although we're trying to do it as fast as we could, we couldn't possibly finish it in the deadline that you gave us"

"That's okay. Recent events have given us some breathing room and we don't need it yet. However, please hurry it anyway"

"Yes sir"

"By the way," Gilbert said as he looked at the mobile suits being assembled, "Which one is Arbitrator? Is it that one?" He asked while pointing to one of the four. The mobile suit resembled Justice in many of the design characteristics.

"Yes. We based it on Justice, but with some specs from Savior"

"Can you power it up?"

The man in front of him quickly relayed the request to the radio. A few seconds later, the Arbitrator's gun metal armor turn white as its Shift Phase armor was activated.

"White" Dullindal commented. "Not what I have in mind. Can you adjust it so that the armor will turn red when it is being activated? I believe that it's just a matter of recalibrating the Shift Phase armor?"

"That can be done, sir"

"Good. Also, please redesignate it to Super Justice" Gilbert thought for a few seconds. "No, Infinite Justice would be better"

"Yes sir"

Yes, humankind will experience peace after this, and he would be the one who prevented it from splitting into two. Gilbert Dullindal would do everything to correct the mistake Glenn made and at the same time reconcile both the Naturals and the Coordinators at the most basic level. Their DNA. He mentally chuckles. Who knows? If his plan works, he would be able to observe both SEED and its more obscure counterpart, APEX in depth.

His thought strayed to Rau La Creusset. He remembered the masked Commander bragging to him that he has captured an APEX subject, knowing very well that Gilbert couldn't resist wanting to learn more about the phenomenon. However, it was war at that time and events conspired to keep him from meeting Rau. When he managed to get the to time to arrange a meeting to meet the APEX subject, Rau laughed and said that he has sent her back to the Earth Alliance, saying that she could help the EA to keep the renegade Freedom and Justice in check. However, Gilbert later found out that Rau was merely using the girl to hand in N-Jammer plan to Earth Alliance.

But, despite the lie by Rau, the ZAFT chairman still believed that people with APEX exist. That was why he had to hasten his plan. The Earth Alliance, especially Logos that was manipulating it, mustn't find out about people with such potential exist.

Gilbert nodded to himself.

Destiny Plan must proceed.

* * *

She was walking along Archangel's corridor when she saw the person they were talking about walking along another corridor. She was stunned for a while before rushing toward the person. "Fllay! Is it really you, Fllay?" 

Fllay looked toward her, wide-eyed before her face brightened. "Mirrialia?" She was unprepared for the sudden assault as the other girl tackled her to the floor, hugging her. "This is a surprise"

"This is… unbelievable! After all this while," Miriallia got up, wiping a lone tear off the edge of her eye. "I thought that I wouldn't see you anymore"

"Me too"

"It's been three years, isn't it?" Miriallia said as she got up and offered a hand to the girl on the floor

"Feels like forever" Fllay said as she took the other girl's hand.

"I agree… wait… I was told that you suffer from amnesia and don't remember everyone onboard. So how could…"

"No, that's not the case. A bit of my memory came back to me. I do remember you and Cagalli Yula Attha… but there's pretty much that I can recall. I was told that a part of my brain was damaged"

"You really died…didn't you" the other girl said quietly.

Fllay merely nodded.

"Then it's true what he said…"

The red head pilot raised her eyebrows "He?"

"Kira…"

"Kira… as in Mr. Kira Yamato?"

Mirrialia turned her head slightly away, disturbed with what she heard. After all Kira and Fllay went through, how could the girl simply forgot about him? Realizing that berating Fllay would be quite useless as it wasn't the girl's fault that she lost her memory. She had already performed a miracle by coming back from death; it was inevitable that the Allster girl's luck has to run out at some point. Shrugging it off, she grabbed Fllay's hand playfully. "Why don't I give you a tour of the ship?"

"Eh? But I…"

"Come on, I'm sure the Captain wouldn't mind. After all, you have been on this ship before, don't you remember?"

"Okay" Fllay said as she let herself being pulled.

"Where were you going just now?" Mirriallia asked.

"Em, I was searching for the Phantom Pain's Commanding Officer. I heard that he's on this ship"

"Who?"

"Neo… I believe that's his name. Neo Lornoke"

* * *

Neo Lornoke looked at his handcuff and sighed in boredom. It was more than a day since that attractive Captain Murrue Ramius came to visit him. Truth to be told, he more than welcomed the Archangel's Captain's visit, even for interrogation. But sometimes he felt a bit annoyed whenever he heard her and others mention the name 'Flaga'. "Huh, what's so good about that Flaga weirdo?" he muttered to himself. "He even left her alone and she's carrying a big torch for him, the lucky guy" He looked around his bed. "Well, I guess it's time for me to use my time doing nothing" 

The door opened and he felt his hope rise. Maybe the captain wasn't busy enough that day and had the time to question him some more. Maybe she would like to find out about what was his hobby next. When he saw the one the called Mirriallia, he sighed. "I thought that lunch isn't due in another two hours"

"That's true. But I'm here because someone would like to see you" Truth be told, Mirriallia wasn't sure that she was doing the right thing in bringing Fllay to meet the man in front of her.

Neo Lornoke looked at the person behind Mirriallia and wondered who she was. But noticing the uniform she was wearing, he saluted, although the salute didn't look appropriate as the handcuff prevented him from doing it properly.

Fllay saluted back.

"Colonel Neo Lornoke of Phantom Pain"

"F427185, Fllay Allster"

"The first generation of ACCURSED, eh? So it was you who was supposed to be assigned to my group. What happened? I saw the report about the lab was destroyed in an accident"

"It's a long story"

"Okay, let's talk about it later" He grinned. "So why don't you knock out Missy here and then together we will take out the guards outside the room. Afterwards, we can take the Captain of this ship as a hostage" he finished, subconsciously licking his lips at the thought of him holding the voluptuous Captain hostage. There were only so many ways that he could think of going about doing it.

Fllay turned toward Mirriallia and gave her a questioning look.

The later simply sighed and scratched her temple while answering. "No, he haven't remembered"

"Oh" the redhead pilot turned back her attention to Neo. "Unfortunately, I'm with an anti EA group"

Neo narrowed his eyes as he didn't like the answer given to him. "Why are you in that uniform, then?"

"I am an OMNI enforcer"

Despite being short, the statement carries a lot of meanings; most of them were not lost to Neo. "So why do you visit me?" he asked with his most charming smile. "Attracted to me?"

Fllay hung her head and was quiet for long time. Meanwhile, hands by her side curled into tight fists. "Why?" she asked quietly. "Why did you let her pilot Destroy?"

The colonel was caught flatfooted by the question and couldn't answer.

"Why? You know that she was suffering, so why did you still do it? This is not you"

"What do you know about me, girl?" Neo's voice was surprisingly cold and calm, despite the heartache he felt when he was being reminded about what he did to Stellar.

Fllay struggled to speak. "You're supposed to be kind"

Neo glared at person in front of him. "Oh, and you're going to tell me that I'm Flaga as well? The others have tried and failed so don't waste your time"

"I'm not going to tell you who you are. Just… please tell me… why the yellow haired girl?"

The man's gaze softened as he felt compelled to let out the real reason that he has been keeping in his heart for so long. "Because if she doesn't fight, then she will be deemed as useless and the drugs supply for her will stop.

"You let her pilot the monstrosity that leveled many cities and killed many civilians!" Mirriallia asked disbelievingly. "Just so that she can get her dosage of drugs! What were you thinking, Mwu?"

"You don't understand!" Neo said, almost shouting. "And for the umpteenth time, don't call me that"

The door opened and two guards entered, alarmed by the raised voices.

Fllay held up her hand, preventing the situation from deteriorating. "I know about what he said" She turned toward Mirriallia and gave an imploring look asking her to send away the guards.

Mirriallia signaled the guards to move out.

The redheaded girl looked at the two leaving before continuing. "Extendeds are pilots trained in extremely harsh conditions so that they could match Coordinators in fighting and piloting. They're also given drugs to enhance their body functions as well as ensuring their loyalty. They will die if not given the drugs intermittently"

"That's unbelievable…" Mirriallia turned her attention toward Neo to see that the man looking away, as if feeling guilty by what he did.

"I couldn't handle the guilt I would have felt if she died right in front of my eyes" Neo said. "And even if I didn't let her pilot it, another one would have taken her place. So the outcome would still be the same"

"It's a fact that I understood very well. I'm sorry for asking such a difficult question, Colonel Neo. I'm being selfish in wanting to know about it"

"No, I supposed that I have been keeping it to myself all this while. This may seem weird, but I feel grateful to you for asking that question. Somehow, it clears up the feeling a bit"

Fllay nodded and said to Mirriallia, "Can you leave the two of us together? I just want to have a brief conversation with him"

"But…" Vague memory of what the redhead girl almost did to Dearka more than two years ago played in her mind.

"Don't worry. I wouldn't do anything to him"

The other woman gave her a long look before leaving the room. "I'll be outside, if anything happens"

Fllay nodded.

Mirriallia exited the room.

The colonel turned his face back toward her. "So why do you ask me about this? Aren't you're supposed to convince me that I'm the hero that the people on this ship worships?"

"I'm in no position to be giving you advice, Colonel"

"That doesn't answer why you are here"

Fllay clenched her fists again, keeping them by her sides. "To tell you the truth, I wanted to extract revenge on you for making the girl pilot the Destroy"

"I'm not in a position to defend myself, so why didn't you? You can still do it, if you want"

"I can't pass judgments on you, not when I'm also the same" She smiled sadly and shook her head. "No, we're not. By the way, do you know that few Earth Alliance officers, especially those who come from North Atlantic Federation, had Block Word installed into them in order to ensure their loyalty?"

Neo's eyes widened slightly, which showed how much control he had over his emotions. "You're implying that I also have one?"

"I don't know" She reached for her pocket and handed him a memory disc. "This contains a list of Block Words applied to the Extendeds as well as some EA officers. The list also contains Release Words that can cancel and negate their effect. The group that I am working for found this by accident. Since then, I always bring a copy of this list to wherever I go, in case I meet someone similar to me. You can have Captain Murrue search the memory disc to see whether you have one installed on you" Fllay turned and walked toward the door.

"Wait"

She stopped, but didn't turn.

"Are you the Black Freedom's pilot?"

She nodded.

Neo leaned back, putting a hand behind his head while looking at the other one was still holding the disc. "I thought so. You haven't told anyone else about _that_, have you?"

Fllay slightly turned her head toward him.

"I thought so"

She straightened her head away from him. "How?"

"Like I told you just now, I have gone through your info. May I know why?"

"No" Fllay said as she left the room.

* * *

1

* * *

**Author's note (12 August 2006)**

1. Actually, I did put something here, but I forgot to save it. I'm lazy to retype it so let's keep this AN short


	31. The essence of my existence

_16th June CE 72. _

_To all whom it matters,_

_Unit F427185's training has been progressing well according to the schedule. It is predicted that the unit will be totally combat ready in one month's time. This report is to be used as a cautionary note to utilizing the unit so as to maximize its efficiency in battles. _

_Tested concluded on F427182 shows that the unit has very remarkable abilities that even surpasses the Extendeds employed in the previous war, as outlined in the previous report. However, we discovered that the unit had its own set of problems and imperfections. These were not mentioned earlier because further tests were needed to determine whether the unit is fit deployment_

_1.  Reprogramming  
a. The unit demonstrated no response to the 'maintenance' treatment carried out on the Extendeds. This is probably caused by a large number highly plastic synapse connections scattered around the subject's brain. These plastic connection synapse, attributed to learning and memories cannot be changed by the treatment.  
i. While the connections can be severed either by using drugs or surgeries, it is decided not to do so as removing them would certainly have a negative effect on the unit's nervous capability, thereby reducing its effectiveness.  
b. The unit also showed no significant effect to indoctrination. This may also cause by the synapse connections.  
i. The programming to teach the unit to kill has been completed successfully.  
ii. However, the unit showed no adverse reaction to killing Coordinators. Shock and pain treatment yielded no tangible results, due to the higher pain tolerance displayed by the unit. It is decided that no further indoctrination to induce extreme hatred over the Coordinators is needed because the unit would still do it if was ordered to, especially if the reason from 1c is given  
iii. An interesting point to note is that in all previous tests, the unit seemed to dislike ZAFT. This was discovered well before any attempt at indoctrination exercise was made. While facility neither has the unit's background information to determine the cause, nor the facility is interested in doing so, it should be considered that this can be taken into consideration with the point 1c  
c. The unit demonstrated highly territorial behavior, responding with unrestrained force to any perceived threat to itself or its circle of accepted interactions. It is advised to constantly remind the unit that it was fighting to protect what was important to it and it would respond favorably. A note: It is observed that in one instance, the unit's eyes seemed to have changed their color while it was under induced duress. However, subsequent tests failed to reproduced the effect_

_2. Bodily function  
a. The unit's body functions at efficiency level higher than a normal Natural. As for now, no known cause could be found.  
b. The unit displayed what can be called forced efficiency increase, where the whole body, including the brain is working at a very high speed. It is shown that the plastic synapse connection somehow contributes to the increase in the reflex. However, the unit can only be in this state for a limited times. _

_3. Reference to APEX  
a. While it is not proven, the unit's characteristic is quite similar to as APEX as demonstrated by 1c and some factors mentioned in the previous reports. While there wasn't any concrete evidence to show that such phenomenon exists, if it does exists, then the unit can be concluded to seem to be an imperfect version of it.  
i. Referring to 2a and 2b, the unit's efficiency is higher than as predicted to APEX. However, the forced efficiency state doesn't last as long as predicted.  
ii. The penalty of exceeding the safe operating time for the unit's forced efficiency is that the unit would be totally exhausted and wouldn't be battle ready for more than 12 hours. However, it would need to mention that perhaps the operating time and efficiency could be extended more. Further test in the future would determine whether this is possible  
b. The unit also displays a tendency to detect presence. This may be due to the unit's sensitive olfactory (smell) sense continually perceiving any possible threat in the environment. The ability works synchronously with what outlined in 1c. No evidence could be produced that this unit's sensing could be bypassed when the unit is working at normal level._

_4. Triggering  
4a. While the anchoring states procedures have been carried out successfully, according to the correct Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) methodology, it is remained to be seen whether the triggers would remain effective permanently. It is believed that the triggers aren't strong enough and could be overwhelmed. However, until such thing occurs, it would be sufficient to let the unit be at the current conditioning level.  
_

_This report would be updated as more information is gathered_

_This report would be updated as more information is gathered_

___For our pure and blue world,_

___Dariul Zyglene_

* * *

Kira walked along the corridor of the ship, thinking about what he saw in the Murasame's cockpit. The white object that Fllay crushed. It some reminded him of a paper flower a small girl gave to him as a sign of thanking him for protecting her. But in the end, she perished as the shuttle she was on was destroyed by Duel during the reentry. He broke into tears when he saw Fllay bringing the paper flower the girl gave to him. The paper flower reminded him of how he had promised to protect the girl and how he had failed to fulfill it. It was Fllay who pulled him through the ordeal and he had promised her that he would protect her. But in the end, he not only failed to fulfill it; he had broken it by leaving her. He had hurt her. Maybe that was why fate took her away in front of his own eyes, ripping a chunk of his soul and taking away a promise for redemption. 

Alone, in Freedom's cockpit, he had damned himself, loosing himself in despair and heartache. He had blamed himself for failing to protect her. But Fllay had appeared before him and promised that she would protect him and his heart forever. It was with her spirit that he could go on and survive the war. Nevertheless, the scars in his heart didn't simply go away when the last shot has been fired; nor did they go away when peace treaty was signed. They were there, marring him. Kira was fortunate that Lacus was there to help him recover from the after match. The Pink Princess had even left her own life just to be with him, as they tried to heal each other. He would have been contented with having Lacus by his side forever but Fate had another plan. Earth Sphere was plunged into another war. When it started, he didn't know why, but he felt that the war would somehow determine his own destiny as well as determine the direction human kind would take. He chuckled.

His hunch was correct.

Fate wanted to play with his heart again by bringing back the person it has taken away from him.

And it has succeeded. Kira was very confused with the whole situation.

"Mr. Yamato?"

The gundam pilot turned his head around. He saw two men, damp towels hanging on their necks. "Ah, Mr. Shatau and Mr. Jackson. I can see that you have just returned from the bath. By the way, you don't have to be so formal. Kira is enough"

"Then you can call me Nash. That reminds me, can you ask the good captain to assign a room to her. A single room. It doesn't have to be big, but enough for her to sleep alone

"Wouldn't it be better for her to be assigned to a shared quarters? After all, she remembered that woman…" Vince said.

"Mirriallia" Kira finished.

"Ah. Yeah. That one"

Jackson crossed his hands. "That sounds good, but still… it's better to err on the cautious side"

"What do you mean?" Vince asked.

The normally laid back looking pilot merely shook his head, a serious expression on his face. "No. Nothing that important" He looked to Kira. "Can you ask her about that?"

Kira nodded.

Both Vince and Jackson walk away as Vince tried to pry more information from Jackson. But all he ever got was the sight of Jackson putting his fingers in his ears, pretending not to heat the questions. Kira continued on his own journey, thinking about what Jackson has said. He was so engrossed in his thinking that he was imagining that Fllay appeared at the corridor's junction in front of him. Which was why he was shocked when he nearly bumped into her at the same junction. "Fllay"

The said girl's body jerked slightly at the sound of her name being mentioned. Then she turned toward him and slowly broke into a polite smile. "Oh, it's you Mr. Yamato"

Kira saw that her right hand was somewhat twiddling as she said that, but didn't think much about it. "Kira. You don't have to be formal"

"So, what are you doing here, Mr. Kira Yamato?"

"Nothing much" After all, he couldn't say out loud that he was thinking about her. Deciding to change the topic, he said, "I forgot to tell you earlier but thank you"

Fllay had a confused look on her. "Hmm?"

"You're the one who saved me, right?""

"That? Don't mention it. You would have done the same thing for me"

Kira bit his lips as memories that he didn't want to recall flashed in his mind. But they were quickly replaced by a vision that he had when Freedom was destroyed; a dream perhaps. The dream about her talking to him, telling him to come back safely. It felt so real at that time, that he couldn't help wanting to ask her about it. "Um… when I crashed…"

"Yes?"

"By the way, did we talk when you rescued me?"

"I'm sorry but I don't understand"

"You know, did we communicate through the communicator?"

"Well, to be honest with you, I was barely awake at that time myself, so I can't tell. But weren't your mobile suit heavily damaged at that time? So even if I hailed you, you wouldn't be reachable right?"

"Yeah. That's right" Kira said dejectedly.

"Oh, by the way, where is she?"

"Who?"

"Your girlfriend"

Kira stifled a gasp as his heart skipped a beat. "What… what do you mean?" 'Did she remember about us being together in the first war?"

"Miss Lacus Clyne, of course. I thought that she's on this ship"

He was relieved but somehow disappointed with her answer. "I thought that you know that she's in PLANT right now?"

"You mean the one with Gilbert Dullindal?" She waved her hand. "That woman doesn't seem like Lacus Clyne at all"

"Oh. What do you mean?"

"Unlike the one on PLANT right now, I think that the real Lacus Clyne is very mature and calm…" It sounded as if she was about to continue the sentence, but she merely smiled to Kira. "You're lucky to know her, right?"

"Er… ha ha ha, yeah" Kira laughed uncomfortably at her question. It made him feel as if he was cheating on both of them. "Wait. Both of them?"

Fllay cocked her head. "Is there something wrong? You look a bit spaced out just now"

"Oh no. Just thinking. By the way, how do you know about the two of us?"

Fllay looked over her shoulder, slightly frowning.

"Fllay?"

She turned her attention to him. "Oh, yeah. About that. Isn't it obvious? It's like the in the famous Snow White where Lacus Clyne is the princess and you're the prince"

Kira scratched his head, not understanding what was being said. Then an idea came to him. "Hey, I heard that Mirrillia gave you a tour of the ship" He had saw the two of them walking together and

The redhead turned to her back again, but only briefly. "Actually, she brought me to meet Neo"

"Neo…"

"Mu La Flaga"

"I see…" Kira trailed, trying to hide that small tiny bit of jealousy that was trying to resurface again. Fllay remembered Mirriallia and Flaga, but not him. "So, why don't we go for a walk together?"

"Are you trying to hit on me?"

"NO!" he hastily answered.

She cast a downward gaze. "It's all right. I know that I'm not that beautiful"

"Yes. You are beautiful. Wait… I don't mean… no… I… um… it's just"

Fllay straightened up and laughed. "You don't have to take it seriously, Mr. Kira. I was just joking"

Kira unconsciously let out a breath of relief.

"I know you love Ms. Lacus"

"Fllay…"

Fllay twirled around merrily. "So, Mr. Tour Guide, if you will lead the way"

Kira decided to let the matter drop for the moment. He bowed and gestured in front of him. "Ladies first. After you"

"Thank you"

Together, they walked until they reached an observatory, one where Kira liked to go whenever he would like to be alone. He stole a look at her face. The few years had a profound effect on her, Kira decided. Somehow, she had a woman's look to her, denoting her maturity despite the young age. "Here we are"

As Fllay put a hand on the glass window, he could see that her eyes have indeed lost their innocent sparkle that he saw at the colony. Unlike Lacus who seemed to retain hers, it was as if Fllay's soul was scarred by the war. There seem to be some kind of longing in those grey depths as she gazed outside. "It's beautiful"

"For me this place is very special to me. A lot of things happened here"

"Really?"

Kira nodded. "It was here that I decided to fight to protect this ship in the first war"

"That sounds as if you weren't soldier in the first place"

"No. I was a civilian at that time. But I fought anyway, so that my friends on this ship would be safe" "That included you" he amended.

"Fighting to protect your friends… How about now?"

"Although it has slightly changed, but I still fight to protect those that I care about"

She sighed. "As to be expected from someone like you"

"Why do you fight, then?" Ever since he came to the realization that it was her who piloted Fallen, he had been wondering about the reason why she fought.

Fllay watched as a school of fish passed by. "I'm not fighting for a reason as noble as yours. I'm only fighting because we're in the middle of a war. It's as simple as that"

"Then you're fighting against your will?" His heart clenched as he said those words. He knew very well the feeling of having to fight despite not liking it. You don't like the war?"

"You're wrong" she said, smiling wanly. "I willingly fight in this war. No, if I can rephrase that: I choose to fight"

"Why?"

"Because it is the essence of my existence"

"Your existence?"

"Yes. My existence. And I feel that to protect my existence, I have to fight"

Kira shook his head. "Don't you have anything else? Someone in your life?" He hastened to add. "Maybe someone worth protecting?"

"Someone worth protecting…" She stared at glass window again.

The look in her eyes reminded him of the time during Archangel's first Earth reentry. At that time, he was supposed to leave onboard a civilian shuttle but in the end decided to stay to protect his friends. When he entered the locker room, he saw her gazing at his flight suit. It dawned to him that she was thinking about piloting Strike. He convinced her that she shouldn't be doing it as piloting Strike was too much for her capability and it would be better to leave it to him. In the end, deciding to pilot Strike probably saved his life as there was no telling whether the shuttle wouldn't be attacked. Then, the irony of the situation hit him. He has told Fllay that piloting Strike was beyond her ability; but in the end, she piloted something more sophisticated and advanced.

For you it's Ms. Lacus, isn't it?"

"Er… yeah"

She hung her head. "Anyway, I'm sorry"

"What for?"

"I tried to kill you in Berlin"

That was the opening he was waiting for; to ask more about her. "Do you hate me?"

She gasped, jerking her head toward him. "Why… why do… you ask such a question?" she stuttered.

Kira walked closer to the glass window, putting his hand just centimeters away from hers. "Why did you attack me? Were you angry with me at that time?"

Looking away, Fllay answered. "Yes"

"Is that so…" Kira said as wave of disappointment swept across his heart.

"Then again, I was angrier with my own failure" Fllay said, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Why? You was great at that time"

She shook her head. "I couldn't save her despite her pleading for help"

"Her? What do you mean by that?"

"The Destroy's pilot wasn't there because she had a choice. She… she had to be there to live"

"Fllay…"

"I know that she killed so many innocent civilians piloting that monstrosity…" she continued in a soft voice. "I know that… But I still want to save her at that time, even though I knew that if I do so, she'll eventually die in the end without those horrible drugs they gave her. I know that but still…" Shaking her head, she chuckled. "I'm not making much sense, am I?"

Kira's hand closed the distance between itself and her hand and ended up next to her gloved hand. He stole a glance at her reflection. She had her eyes closed, seemingly reliving her thoughts. He then shifted his gaze back to the gloved hand next to his. "I'm sorry"

"No, it is I who's supposed to apologize. I was overcome by madness at that time and nearly killed you"

He thought about their fight in Berlin and its cause. The situation was almost similar to what happened to him two years ago. "Actually, I understand how you felt at that time" Kira turned toward her to see that her eyes were still closed, but her expression showed interest in what he said. He looked at the floor below him. "I once failed to keep my promise to protect. At that time, I felt as if my soul was ripped away from me. I shouted and cried in Freedom's cockpit, until she appeared and told me not to cry as she would protect me with all of her heart" A nostalgic smile appeared on his lips. "She did and that's why I can continue on fighting even until now"

"She sounds like an amazing person"

"Yeah, she is" Kira said, intending to compliment the woman next to him. He looked at her to see the red head pilot was smiling brightly. As a thought occurred to him, he asked, "Do you…"

She nodded. "Yes, I can see why you're so in love with Lady Lacus. She's really a special girl"

He knew that he was supposed to be happy with the compliment, but he couldn't help from being disappointed. "I guess I am"

"PAGING FOR MR. KIRA YAMATO," an announcement echoed throughout the corridor caused both of them to look up.

"It's Mirriallia and she's calling for you" Fllay said.

Kira looked at her, at a nearby speaker and back to her again.

"PAGING FOR MR. KIRA YAMATO"

"Don't worry about me. I promise not to get lost"

The young Coordinator felt reluctant to leave her as his heart was telling himself to remain by her side. But in the end, he decided to leave. "Maybe we can continue this later, okay?" he said as he began to walk away.

"Okay" Fllay said as she continued to look at him leaving.

Once he was out of the way, her right hand which was on the window crossed its fingers. Instantly Fllay had to bring her other hand to her mouth to cover it as a wave of nauseous overwhelmed her. She slowly sunk to the floor, using her right hand to slow down the descent and ending up in a kneeling position, all the while breathing heavily. She remained in her state for a few seconds more until she felt the urge to throw up subsides. As she lowers her hand from her mouth, she muttered softly, "It's just as I thought"

* * *

1

* * *

**Author's note **(30 August 2006) 

1. I'm trying out the 'report' format instead of a flashback to shed more information on Fllay's background. I was going to do a scene where the researchers at the facility that resurrected her were talking about her, but in the end settled for the format in the first half of this chapter. I hope that it's okay.

2. Some of you already know about it, but SEED (and APEX in my story) is similar to what is being called as 'Alexandria's Genesis'. In fact, the writers probably read about this info as well. This phenomenon (although has been said to be untrue) is a genetic mutation. Its carriers would normally be born with blue or grey eyes, but the color would change to purple permanently within one year. Some other characteristics include youthful appearance, long life span, perfect vision and highly evolved immune system.

3. I watched Stargazer I and II, and felt impressed at the story. Granted, it's a bit compressed, but to be honest, the story is well done (up to now). But now, I have a problem. In Stargazer, they already have Bluel Duel and Verde Buster, so I do wonder whether I should change the Alliance mobile suits, continue on (with Duel Kage, Buster MKII) or create new ones. Oh well, at least I have three to four more episodes before the battle between EA and ZAFT.

4. Loosely counting, it's almost a year since I started Fallen Angel. I'm going to reward myself for not giving up until now by feeding myself with the Trans fat rich Whooper and French Fries!

5. I would like to do a short survey. While it's not compulsory and it is not considered voting, the feedback would certainly influence this story a bit. I know that some of you may say that as the writer, I should decide it myself, but for me, writing is a science of communicating, and the best communication is when it's both ways. So I am interested to find out about what are your opinions. The questions are

a) Do you object to few main characters being killed?

b) If you don't mind, which character that you **wouldn't** like to see being killed?

If you're replying to the survey, you can do so by either sending me an email at 'noshmono at gmail dot com', send a personal message to me using the fanfiction's service or just put it in the review.


	32. As the wind of change starts to blow

Lunamaria looked at her sister in disbelief as the two of them walked toward the cafeteria. "You what?"

"It's just like I said" Meyrin said timidly. "I thought that Athrun was kissing Shinn at that time"

"And then what happened"

"Well…" Meyrin said nervously as she put her forefingers together. "I thought that… well…"

The older sister laughed. "Okay, okay. I think I got it" She put a finger under her chin, thinking. "Come to think of it, I was wondering why Shinn was searching for you like mad at that time"

Meyrin groaned. "Could you stop it? It's embarrassing for me"

"But you know, the situation is rather funny… I can almost imagine Shinn being into that kind of relationship. Falling in love with another man" Luna put a hand on her forehead dramatically. "Ah! What a beautiful yet dangerous scandal!"

"Sis!" Meyrin hissed, looking around them. It was fortunate that they were the only one at the corridor at that time. "If you keep shouting about that, people will listen and jump to conclusion!"

"Come on, don't be a party pooper"

"But still…"

"Okay, okay. I was kidding. Everyone knows that he's not into other man"

"That's what I was trying to say…"

"He's into telephone"

It took Meyrin a moment before she fully understood what was being said by her sister. "Sister! That's a very mean thing to say"

Luna's face turned serious, startling Meyrin. "That's true, but the way he obsesses over his sister's telephone… it's… unhealthy"

"But that's because…"

"I also know about the story, Meyrin. Rey told the two of us, remember? But think for a minute. His sister wouldn't rest in peace if she knew about him obsessing over her"

Meyrin nodded in agreement.

"You still remember about what you told me regarding Shinn's change in behavior during his fights?"

"Yes. And you told me that it was nothing"

Luna nodded. "Actually, I told you that so that you wouldn't worry"

"Why?"

"I don't know. It may seem a bit farfetched, but I believed that's the reason why Shinn's being treated a bit differently than the rest of us. Remember the time when he return that Extended to the Earth Alliance?"

Meyrin nodded. "He got away with just a reprimand"

"It's quite strange. Such offense is punishable by death, you know"

Meyrin looked at Luna, smiling. "But you know, in a way, I'm happy that he wasn't punished severely. The ship will probably be quieter without him around to cause troubles.

Luna made a face. "Gee, you're ever an optimist, Meyrin" She then smiled as well. "But I guess that's why a lot of men liked you"

"Eh? Really? I don't recall any man liking me"

"And ever clueless as well. Do you recall our academy days?"

"I remember. At that time you're pretty popular"

Luna put a hand on her mouth to stop herself from bursting in laughter. "Of course I'm popular. I'm Meyrin's older sister"

"I don't get what you're saying"

"Have you ever heard that to win a girl's heart, you have to win over her family?"

"I do"

Luna pointed to herself. "Well, I'm the family. They were trying to butter me up so that I would give my blessing, as well as recommend them to you"

"And…"

"Naturally, I got jealous. I know that it was childish of me, but at that time I told them that if the really want to get to know you, they might as well approach you themselves. And every time I saw you shyly moving away from anyone who approached you, I cringed and wanted to bash my head at the nearest pole. It's really frustrating, you know."

"I really have no idea…" Meyrin said, trailing.

Luna folded her arms and snorted. "Whoever has heard about the older sister having to live under the younger sister shadow?" She made a disappointed sound. "If this continues on, I suppose I can just reserve a place at the Old Folks home"

"What do you mean by that?"

"I'm going to become an old spinster, living a lonely life. Sigh"

"You're just over reacting" Meyrin said. She was about to continue on but suddenly stopped, her eyes wide.

The older of the two put her hands behind her head and closed her eyes. The fact that she did that while she was walking; Lunamaria was not unlike a girl who was mad with her parent for not buying her what she wanted. "You're not the one who had to force her kiss on another person"

"Um… sis…" Meyrin tried to call Lunamaria's attention.

"I'm in a middle of a grouse, so be good and just listen"

"Okay" a male voice behind her said. "So what were you grousing about just now?"

"I was talking about the kiss"

Meyrin blinked a few times at the scene in front of her.

"The kiss?" the male voice asked.

"Yes, the kiss"

"What about it?"

"Do you know that I had to force a kiss on Athrun? Of course, I did it so that he would snap out of his worry, but now I have a big problem meeting him. From that that day, I always have to avoid him. It's very tiring, you know"

"…That's bad" the voice said sympathetically. "But why do you have problem seeing him?"

"Isn't that obvious? I threw myself at him. He must be thinking that I'm a slut for doing so. Ah, I know! Maybe I should ran away and become a nun"

Meyrin closed her face with her hand, not willing to watch anymore.

"Running away from your problem isn't a good habit. Personally, I don't think he thinks about you in that kind of manner"

Luna opened an eye in irritation. "Oh, what makes you so sure?"

"Well… I guess I do know about his personality a bit"

"YEAH? HOW DO YOU KNOW?" she snapped while spinning around. "YOU'RE NOT…" Blood drained from her face. "…Athrun" she finished softly.

Meyrin who was more than twenty steps away shook her head, her face still covered by her hand. She had tried to warn her sister's of Athrun's approach, but Luna was too engrossed in her self-demeaning talk.

"How? How?" Luna uttered.

The younger sister made a mental note to herself to ask their parents about their heritage. Her older sister reminded her of the Native Americans in the Western movies she liked so much.

Athrun smiled sheepishly. "I wanted to ask you some questions about the duty roster, but you told me to listen to you"

"Er… ah… I…" Lunamaria hung her head, her hands fisted tightly.

The blue haired ace was puzzled by the way she was acting. "Um…Luna?"

"UWAAAA!" Luna cried while breaking into a sprint away from him.

Athrun could only stare at her running away. "What did I do?" he asked softly.

"Isn't it obvious?" Meyrin, who had approached him asked. "My sister is ashamed because she feels that she had made a fool of herself in front of you," _'Someone that she likes,_' Meyrin amended silently.

"Is that so?" Athrun asked while turning toward Meyrin. "But I really don't see what she would feel that way" He looked back to the front, missing the slight frown forming on Meyrin's face.

Meyrin mentally sighed. Here was a prime example of clueless and ignorance at its worst. Despite being labeled as such by Luna, she was still sensitive to certain matters pertaining to heart, unlike the man in front of her. "It's okay Commander. I will talk to her and make her understand that you're not interested in women… and would rather concentrate on your work" Meyrin said while saluting him seriously.

"Please excuse me" She then ran to catch up with her sister, nearly bumping into Heine. "Sorry, sir" she said as she continued her jog.

The blonde looked at her and then at Athrun. "I saw Luna crying just now. What happened?"

"I don't know about it myself" Athrun answered. "I was listening to Lunamaria talking and then the next thing I knew, she bolted away"

"And Miss Poppins?" Heine asked, referring to Meyrin. He had always referred to her by that name since the battle at Crete.

"Went after her"

"Oh" Heine smiled. "You know, maybe what Miss Poppins said just now is correct…"

"What is?"

"Well, the part about you not being interested in women" He put a hand on his hip. "Well, I don't really care about such matter. 'Anything that floats your boat', as they always say"

Athrun groaned. "Not you too"

"Well, whatever it is, Athrun, you owe Luna an apology. I suggest you go about doing it gently" He winked mischievously. "If you need to practice, I can call for Shinn…"

Athrun wondered what more could go wrong that day.

* * *

Razak connected a cable to the object in front of him, completing the installation of all of them. The spherical object was large enough to accommodate a person sitting inside it. Scratching the back of his head, he said, "I still say that it's a way weird to design the cockpit this way" 

"But Terrence said that this is the best approach to the problem that we have" 'Sparky', the head of Sukhoi-Gurevich design bureau replied as he looked over the data pouring into the screen of the terminal in front of him. "Well, when he proposed the modification on the existing design, I instantly deduced that the only way we can achieve it is by having the cockpit redesigned"

"Couldn't a Coordinator handle it using the current cockpit?"

"No. The force produced would be enough to knock out even the most battle hardened Coordinators. That's why the cockpit has to be this way, to reduce the impulse"

"I guess you're right. But it still bugs me that we have to custom made a flight suit just it? And how come the suit's design is so outdated and looks like one on exhibit at the Smithsonian Institute Space Museum? And the helmet is a fishbowl for crying out loud!"

"You know that we couldn't possibly have the instrument display arranged in the conventional way. The gyro system takes up most of the space normally reserved for the displays and the computers. And the suit will provide a bit of protection to the pilot against impacts, just in case the system fails. And the fishbowl is crucial to provide visualization to the pilot"

"Yeah. Yeah. Direct feedback to the brain. Good thing it's a passive system now, unlike the other one. But you know, the real problem is not the cockpit and the system, but whether it is enough. We're going to strip most of the armaments that it carries in order to accommodate the system, even the Phase Shift armor. I wonder whether we're not too hasty in our decision"

"Well, simulated results show marked increase in performance. Based on the numbers, it's quite safe to say that it would be enough for it to be equipped with adequate weaponry. And with all those beam weaponries in use, the Phase Shift armor is pretty much useless"

"Oh man…"

Don't be disappointed. You haven't seen nothing yet" Sparky said with a knowing look.

"I'll take you up on the offer" Razak thumbed toward a mobile suit skeleton behind him. "You know, I thought that we're supposed to equip it with DRAGOONs or Gunbarrels. Isn't that what Fallen is designed for?"

"DRAGOONs are ineffective on Earth. Sure, they are cool looking, but I don't think they're that useful"

"But you can't deny their potency in space warfare"

Sparky nodded. "True, but there's more than one way to skin a ZAFT mobile suit"

Razak thought about the statement. "Hmm… using the David against Goliath principle, eh?"

"That's exactly why you can't expect it to be more heavily armed"

"I guess you're right. That reminds me. I haven't seen Terrence around lately"

"He and the others are busy rewriting the OS for Fallen to accommodate the enhancements. But even while working 'round the clock it seems that it's quite hard for him to finish it in time"

"So, what are you doing here instead of helping them?"

"Dumb ass. Can't you see that I'm busy with this one? And after this, I'm to run some optimization for the trios" Sparky said, referring to three mobile suits Merlin, Marine and Maestro.

"I guess you want me to help too" Razak turned toward Fallen for a moment before turning back at the spherical object in front of him. "Gyro-linked... heh, what a bombastic name, a name only he would have thought of"

* * *

Gilbert's assistant floated alongside him. Meer, Lacus impersonator was behind them along with her bodyguards. "Sir, it's dangerous to go to Gibraltar. Our enemy might attack that place in retaliation to your broadcast" 

He shook his head. "It's very hard to motivate our soldiers on Earth to fight if I merely give orders from the sideline"

"But…"

"I also have to be there to greet the Alliance groups that want to join us in our fight. It's important that we show them that we're sincere in our fight" Gilbert looked at his assistant and continued, "I'm going there onboard Jupiter, not an unarmed space shuttle, so there's no worry abut my safety"

His aide nodded.

"It's interesting to see the people uniting against LOGOS"

"They are excited over your speech to end the war. After all, the people of Earth also wish for peace"

He nodded. "However, it has been a while since LOGOS has made any move"

"Yes. It was as if it realized the futility of continuing their war path"

"If they don't attack, it could be troublesome…" Gilbert said softly, deep in thought.

"Pardon me, sir?"

Snapping out from his thinking, he quickly answered. "No, it's just I would like everyone to work for peace. If LOGOS itself wants peace, I will be there to greet its members with open arms"

"It would be good if we can just stop fighting…" his aide said.

"I wish for it too," the chairman said.

They reached at the gateway. Behind them was a ship that resembled Minerva, except that it had a blue and yellow paint scheme instead of the grey and red on Minerva. The other obvious difference was that the ship wasn't equipped to launch Impulse, as evident from the lack of a third catapult. The ship's captain and his officers stood near the metal pathway, waiting for Gilbert. "Please take care of things here while I'm gone" Gilbert said to his aide.

"I will"

Escorted, Gilbert and Meer entered the ship where they were shown their respective rooms. He retired to his room, deciding to visit the bridge later as he had something else to do. The ZAFT's Chairman opened his laptop computer and read the rest of the report detailing Freedom's destruction at the hands of Impulse and Gaia. However, there what irked him was that his plan to pit Cherubim against Archangel had failed disastrously. And the fact that the real Lacus Clyne was still alive and remained a formidable foe meant that he has to be careful in his plans in the future. Gilbert opened a secured channel on his laptop and a face appeared. "Please contact Clarzek. Find out from him the progress of the investigation on the shuttle hijacking. Assign more men on the case as we couldn't afford LOGOS from manipulating Lady Lacus for their vile purposes"

"Very well, sir"

Gilbert nodded and terminated the connection. Since he couldn't control the real Lacus, he got Meer to work for him. With a voice resembling the famous songstress', she was the perfect candidate to impersonate Lacus. Plus, Meer was eager to be given the job as she was Lacus' ardent fan. He wondered whether Lacus would eventually make her appearance. But for the moment, he could rest assured that she wouldn't. In fact, it would be to his advantage if she did, as she has to take sides, either with him or against him. Either way, he would benefit.

But he still had another small matter to deal with. One of ZAFT's land based battleships in western Eurasia was destroyed by two unknown mobile suits. The two, dubbed as 'Dark Buster' and 'Dread Duel' because of their resemblance to the two prototypes, has also destroyed more than half mobile suits stationed there. Strangely enough, there was no counterattack by Earth Alliance to retake the area, making it looked like the two mobile suits were sent there as a field test. Gilbert searched through his computer and became slightly annoyed. There wasn't any intelligence on them except what he has received. It looked like either the double agent inside Earth Alliance has been discovered or the "Dark Buster" and "Dread Duel" were so secret that only those closest to Djibril knew.

An icon appeared on his laptop and he clicked on it. Another nameless face appeared. "Mr. Chairman, there's a message for you from Team Shariman. The operation has been successful"

"Thank you," Gilbert said as a thin smile appeared on his lips. Team Shariman was the best covert intelligence team he has, conducting various clean up operation. Gilbert closed his computer and tried to get some sleep. It would be a matter of time before Team Shariman would ferret out who was hacking into top level ZAFT computers. The hacker managed to steal some files on Lacus. He wondered whether it has something to do with his order to kill Lacus. But it wouldn't matter as the hacker would be found and would be silenced forever.

Meanwhile, on one of the PLANTs, Roger Vaughn, was known as Ry0Ga in the hacking world was sitting facing a computer screen as tears flow down his cheeks. When the war broke up, he supported the right wing, wanting the Naturals to be chased down into their holes because of their warlike nature. But as information kept pouring in front of him, he couldn't shake the small feeling that perhaps it was better if the Coordinators were wiped out. Although they were supposed to be better than Naturals, they weren't. In fact, they were worse. Coordinators were totally responsible for the second war. It was as simple as that. Granted, only few knew the conspiracy that was unfolding but the fact that the highest chain of ZAFT command was involved.

Besides being the one responsible for issuing the order to kill Lacus Clyne, Gibert knew about that Earth Alliance would attack Armory One to steal the three prototype mobile suits. In fact, it was one of ZAFT's double agents who purposely gave away the information on Gaia, Abyss and Chaos to gain trust to enter Earth Alliance. But it was supposed to be foiled. According to his planning, ZAFT would swiftly destroy the three unmarked battleships Earth Alliance was supposed to send. Then, without any backing, the three mobile suits would eventually be defeated as they would certainly run out of power. The biological CPU piloting the units would then be captured and ZAFT could conduct research on them. At the same time, Gilbert will have the opportunity to show to Representative Attha from ORB who was scheduled to visit at that time that ZAFT was justified in developing its mobile suits.

However, Earth Alliance unexpectedly sent a ship that utilized Mirage Colloid cloaking. The ship, designated as 'Boogey One' managed cause major disruption to Armory One's spaceport while destroying all Nazca cruisers that were patrolling the place. The chaos allowed it to retrieve the three mobile suits and ran away. Although the loss of the three mobile suits was trivial to Gilbert, Minerva's captain decided to launch the ship prematurely.

As the hacker scrolled through the information, he shook his head. The information also revealed that Athrun and Representative Attha were caught up in the commotion and ended up on Minerva. Gilbert, realizing Athrun's identity began to plan for the young ace's return to ZAFT. It seemed that he wanted Athrun to play the role of a hero and together with Minerva, will symbolize freedom and peace under the ZAFT's banner.

That would fit with what Gilbert has planned next: the Junius Seven colony drop on earth. The so-called 'terrorists' were actually from one of ZAFT's special operation teams. A few teams had also been dispatched to instigate Patrick Zala's supporters to execute a massive uprising once the drop has been executed. It wouldn't matter whether the drop was successful or not; it would give him a perfect chance to get rid of Patrick Zala's supporters that had continued to oppose him, extending ZAFT's influence on Earth and get the Earth Alliance to declare war on PLANTs, all in one stroke. Actually, the risks that he took were massive, but the current situation proved that he has played his hand very well.

"Damn you… Gilbert. You're worse than Djibril and his LOGOS," the hacker cursed as he continued reading.

Due to the leaked information by someone inside LOGOS, Gilbert was also very much aware that nuclear weapons would be used against PLANTs; that was why he stationed the Neutron Stampeder . The nuclear strike has solidified his grip on power as he was portrayed as someone who strives for peace. From there on, everything was going according his plan. ZAFT managed to increase its influence on Earth. There were some unexpected events, such as the appearance of Archangel and Freedom, but he even manipulated some of them to his advantage.

Roger stopped when he got to the part about Gilbert knowing that Earth Alliance was developing the X-1 Destroy. He had read enough. Actually, he has read too much. As he considered what he was supposed to do with the information he has collected, a warning text box appeared on the screen. He has been traced. It was obvious that it was a trap and he has taken the bait. Soon there would be a group of people storming his house. Roger thought about what he should do. It was too late to run.

The only thing he could do was to send a warning to Athrun. He quickly typed archived the whole information inside an email intended for Athrun. Just as he was about to press the send key, he stopped. There was a possibility that the message could be traced to his friend. That wouldn't do. Working furiously, he applied recursive encryption on the message. He then logged into multiple electronic boards, posting the message online with a challenge to everyone to decrypt it. Roger hoped that somehow, Athrun would take notice of the challenge and decrypt it. He chuckled bitterly, realizing that it was a long shot. Despite that, Roger fervently hoped that Athrun would find out. He looked at his watch. They would be coming for him soon. He quickly searched through the network for methods on how to create home made bombs. He would go down, but not without taking some with him.

* * *

1

* * *

**Author's note (15 September 2006)**

1. I've finally manage to tie up the part about Athrun's friend who's supposed to help him find out the truth behind the attempt on Lacus's life. It's been in my thought all this while and I'm rather happy that I've done it.

2. The part about Luna screwing up big time in front of Athrun is one of the twin segments for the Hawke sisters (Of course, you do know about the other one, right?).When I thought about this and its twin, I imagined both sisters in each of the settings and concluded that it would be better for Luna to be in this scene while Meyrin in the other. I said this because I believe that despite Meyrin appearing a bit naïve, she had that kind of inner strength, like a strong cold metal. Her personality contrasts with Luna's which seem to me that she's hiding her feelings by acting 'genki'. This is what I concluded after watching GSD, and I tried to portray that belief here. Besides, it kinda fun having Meyrin hurling a veiled insult to Athrun for inadvertently making her sister cry; Luna doing the same thing isn't just as cool.

3. I've decided to stick with the two MS for LOGOS. I don't think I have to change everything just because Stargazer is out. After all, I've been thinking about assigning the two of them to LOGOS since last year.


	33. Injured soul

Barzhakov and Wilhelm walked into the café. Inside, the atmosphere was quite lively, uncommon for a place that's located in a small village. Barzhakov's eyes scanned around the place until he saw a man sitting a secluded corner, eating his breakfast while reading his tablet reader. He walked toward the man with Wilhelm close behind.

When they were near, the man, realizing that someone was close, shifted his attention from his tablet reader to the newcomers. "Pardon me, would you please move away a bit? I was about to finish reading the article and your shadows are blocking my view"

"As rude as always, Jacques," Barzhakov said as he and Wilhelm seated themselves in front of the man.

"I did say 'please' just now, and need I remind you that you just sat without even asking me?"

"Of course. And I bet your mother would've been proud to see her son eating breakfast while reading something. Where's your table manners?"

"Hmm? Ah… yes" The man put the tablet down and took a sip from his cup of coffee. "The article about the destruction of 65 Armoured Tactical Corps interests me. It says here that during a training exercise, the Corps's mobile base developed some kind of mechanical problem and a results, caught fire. The fire reaches the ammunition department and POOF! No more 65 Corps"

"I can imagine"

Jacques put down the cup. "But still, it's more believable than saying that it was wiped out when a mobile suit from a rogue team detonated its own nuclear generator"

"How do you know about that?" Wilhelm asked.

"I read the debriefing report"

"How the hell did you get…"

Barzhakov put a firm hand on Wilhelm's shoulder. "Meet Jacques Van Rosseau, the Eurasian Army Tactical Planner"

"I'm the Chief of Joint Staff now"

"Thanks to the attack on my base"

Jacques nodded and smiled. "Yes, thanks to the attack"

Wilhelm tried to get up but Barzhakov's hand held him down.

"Calm down and don't create a commotion" Barzhakov said with an edge to his voice.

"But…"

"There should be a very good reason for today's meeting, Wilhelm, or else I wouldn't have come" Barzhakov eyed a cute waitress coming toward them with a plate of corned beef, coleslaw and two pieces of toast and a cup of tea. "None of the industrial crap going into the feeding range?" He asked Jacques.

"Come now. I know you like the back of my hand"

"Yes, but you hardly know about your hand either"

The waitress set down the plate and the cup.

"Give him some French toast and maple syrup along with a cup of coffee" Barzhakov said while motioning toward Wilhelm.

The waitress nodded and left.

Barzhakov was to take a bite when Wilhelm stopped him. "It could be poisoned"

"Shut up" the Cherubim's captain said as he continued eating.

Jacques looked at the exchange with mirth in his eyes. "Look, this isn't a trap, young man"

"Wilhelm" Wilhelm said with disdain in his voice. "If this isn't a trap, what's a squad of snipers doing surrounding this place? How about the two CATs we saw at the outskirt of the town?"

"Ouch! Touchy. They're just there to ensure that there will be no one to interrupt out rendezvous. We wouldn't mind if you bring along your own guards, but it seems that your captain here is as arrogant as always. He really trusts us not to double cross him. If not, he would have come alone. Why, if we invite him to come, telling him that we'll drop an anvil on him, he'll come, just to show how macho he is"

"Eurasian Command is also as arrogant" Barzhakov said as he put down his fork. "It could have drop the anvil on me, but no, they had to use the runabout way"

"It wasn't me who wanted the glory of defeating the 'Cherubim Mafia'. Sure, I want to kill you, but it's personal, nothing business"

The waitress returned with the order for Wilhelm and set them on his side. As she walked away, Jacques smiled. "Pretty cute, isn't she?"

"Yeah" Wilhelm agreed.

"Beside being a good chef, she could handle 90 different kinds of firearms, and she could threw the knife under her skirt accurately at a distance of 10 meters"

"Holy shit!"

"You don't have time to waste ogling girls" Barzhakov said as he eats his toast. He turned toward Jacques. "So, what's the offer?"

"Offer?" Wilhelm asked, confused.

Barzhakov sighed. "The reason we're here, talking to him is because he knows that he has something and he knows that we probably would want it"

Jacques nodded. "Good to see that you still know me very well. Okay, let's be honest. Thanks to the rather disastrous consequences of us attacking your base that day, the Command has 'retired', so as to say, most of those involved in the planning"

"So I'm talking to your ghost right now?"

"I really miss your sarcasms and barbed comments. You have a talent for making people feel loved" Jacques shrugged. "You want to believe or not it's up to you but Ivanov and I were excluded from the plan and didn't know about it. We only found out later when it's already in motion. Look at the sloppy strategy used and you'll know that it wasn't us who did it. If it was me, it would have turned out differently, you know that" He smiled and took out a cigar. "After all, the mission to destroy Aprilius Four would have succeeded if you hadn't mutinied and kicked me out of the ship"

Wilhelm turned toward Barzhakov, surprised by what he had heard. He had joined Cherubim's crew few months after the first war have ended and had always thought that Barzhakovv was the ship's captain all along.

"Killing civvies in cold blood isn't something I would like people to associate with me" Barzhakov said as he spoons his corned beef.

"Ah, yes. Ever so chivalrous but idiotic. Anyway, that was in the past"

Barzhakov continued chewing his food but his furrowed eyebrows revealed that he was interested with what being said.

Jacques saw the look and shrugged. "Time changes everything. Kremlin is seriously rethinking about its policies. And one of my new tasks as the Chief of Joint Staff is to think of a way to take care of Cherubim"

"So we're back to fighting again?" Wilhelm asked.

Barzhakov glared at him for being slow on the pickup.

Jacques said patiently, "If we're to fight, then we wouldn't waste our time to be here. Your captain probably plan an attack on the Kremlin and Kremlin would be busy planning for your complete destruction"

"So, let's hear it," Barzhakov said.

The man smiled and handed him his tablet reader. "How about a few Drakes and Danilovs under your command? The Drakes will come with their complement of mobile suits. As you can see on the tablet, the ships' captains are familiar to you, with some have served under you before"

Barzhakov nodded as he read what was displayed on the tablet's screen.

"Of course, if you want, you can replace them. In fact, you can replace all of the ships' crews if you want. If you want empty ships, just tell us and we'll send them to you. We'll also tell you which of our warehouses are 'lax in security' so that you can go and get the supplies from there. To make the offer sweeter, we will allow you the use of our satellite capabilities. Hell, if you want, we'll throw in the cheer leader squad, complete with their pompoms"

"And on our part?"

"Simple. First, no revenge against us. Number two, no raiding our not-so-secret top secret labs anymore. We'll provide you with things you want, with limitation, of course. Number three, we may need you to carry out some missions for us," Jacques then smiled again. "Easy, yes?"

Barzhakov looked at smiling man's face with a frown on his face.

"Captain?" Wilhelm asked wondering why the man next to him was in a foul mood"

"Jacques, you're a damn bastard" the Cherubim's captain said.

"Thank you" Jacques continued eating, as if giving the man in front of him some time to think.

"Wilhelm," Barzhakov said. "What do you think about the offer?"

The younger man thought about it before replying, "It's very hard to turn down, Captain. The offer is very tempting as it is"

"I agree. However, what I don't like is the fact that he's offering this"

The Joint Chief of Staff put down his cutleries and intertwined his fingers. "Come now, that sound a bit harsh on your part"

Ignoring Jacques, Barzhakov continued, "Wilhelm, Jacques here is a 'three course meal' kind of guy"

"Meaning?" Wilhelm said.

"What he gave us just now is just an appetizer. If the appetizer is that tempting…"

"Then the main course will be even more tempting" Jacques said. "Press the button on the top left and you'll see what I mean"

Barzhakov did what he was told and was surprised.

"We managed to find out that the ZAFT, no, Dullindal may be behind the colony drop after all"

"Do you have the proof?"

"Of course. Press the next button"

The captain did as he was told and saw the schematic of a booster.

"Two-third of our info cells in PLANTs have been wiped out as a result of bringing the information in your hand. We have found out that a large quantity of boosters have disappeared from a ZAFT's top security warehouse a week before that. However, there was no report of their loss. Rather, any evidence of their existence has been erased from the record, just like a shipment of GINNs that were supposed to arrive at Armoury One. To tell you honestly, this is…"

"Just like what we normally do for Black Ops"

"True"

Barzhakov closed his eyes. "That's suspicious, but you have to admit that it's not enough. I dislike Dullindal. However I find it a bit hard that Dullindal would do such a thing, knowing the full consequence of his action"

"Maybe that's why he did it. Seems to me like he knows what he is doing"

Barzhakov's eyes became wide for a moment before narrowing. Wilhelm, not understanding what Jacques meant, asked, "What do you mean by that?"

"So far, the conflict has benefited him in many ways. Earth Alliance is slowly disintegrating just as ZAFT is slowly gaining support from the people. Before you celebrate, let me tell you that ZAFT has increased its military budget to from sixteen to twenty three percent of its GDP. For a country that only fights to defend itself and has no territorial ambition on Earth, the increase sounds a bit suspicious"

"But that's because we're in the middle of a war," Wilhelm said.

"Wilhelm, the military expenditure of sixteen percent is before they announced about LOGOS," Barzhakov said.

"But that means…"

"Despite knowing that we at the Earth Alliance will lose support and began to weaken, they still increase their budget. Why? We ourselves would like to know the answer to the question. Apart from that, our analysts believe that he's building an array of quantum computers and a massive database. We're not sure what he will do with those things, but it doesn't sound too encouraging to us."

"Then we must tell this to the world!" Wilhelm said.

"And?" Jacques asked smugly. "What would that achieve?"

Not really understanding what Jacques said, Wilhelm said hesitantly. "Then everyone would oppose him"

"Kid," Jacques said patiently, but emphasizing the word, "Right now, we're the 'villains', not the Chairman. Do you really think people would believe us if we tell them about this? And even if they believe us, what can they do? Stage a worldwide demonstration? Last time they did that, our so-called ally from North-Atlantic send their big bad 'bot to stomp down the demonstration"

Wilhelm lowered his head as he realised that what was said was correct.

"So, to continue on with the explanation, the Eurasian Federation decided that it wouldn't like its independence to be stifled"

"In short, all of you want to protect your own seat of power" Barzhakov surmised.

"Of course. We're just a group of greedy politicians, after all" Jacques replied sarcastically. "Back to the matter at hand, the Federation would rather help the Clyne faction as it's more open to negotiation, rather than ally ourselves with LOGOS or ZAFT. But the current situation is quite murky and we're not sure who to support openly"

"You want us to attack both LOGOS and ZAFT?"

"ZAFT, well, at least the one under Dullindal's command. Currently, it enjoys popular support from people. We need to ensure that its power is curbed so that whatever it's planning, we can help to prevent it. The missions that we need your help with will involve getting the information on the secret projects it is working on as well as disrupt some supplies"

"Missions that would jeopardize Eurasian's good standing if it is revealed that it is involved"

"Both you and I will get what we want. We at Eurasian government get to protect our regime and you get to acquire some new toys and; both parties will get to protect the future"

"I'll seriously think about it. So what's the dessert?"

"Remember the seven percent increase we talked about earlier? Part of it may go to a certain project we discovered recently. Choose the file labelled 'Unconfirmed'"

Barzhakov did as was told while Wilhelm peered at the tablet computer from his seat. "What is this?" The Cherubim's captain asked. "Super Armed Liberator, Variable Assault Through Integrated Offensive Network?"

"In short, Project SALVATION. Sounds like a peaceful name, don't you think?"

"For me, peace will only come the day I can get rid of you"

"Touché"

"So… what is it all about?"

"We're not sure. But we have come across unconfirmed rumours that ZAFT is building a ship which is bigger than Gondswana. Putting the two together…"

Barzhakov could only frown as he looked at the tablet once more.

* * *

"_Mama" a girl's voice called._

_Instinctively, Fllay turned around and a small girl threw herself at her. Despite being puzzled, she caught hold of the girl in her arms before putting her down. _

"_You wouldn't believe what happened at the kindergarten today" the girl said as she hugged Fllay's feet._

_Still confused, Fllay lowered herself to the girl's level, mentally noting the girl's beautiful brown hair. "What happened?"_

"_Torii's eggs hatched"_

"_But isn't Torii a robot bird?" _

"_Ha ha ha. Mama, you're a great kidder. I don't mean the one Papa got from his friend" _

_Hiding her feeling, Fllay smiled and put a hand on the girl's head. "Sorry, sweetie. I forgot about it"_

"_Mama! How could you? You're the one who give the mother and father birds to the class"_

"_Sorry" she apologised. Fllay looked at the girl's eyes and couldn't help herself from hugging the girl._

"_Ma… ma?"_

"_Shh… It's okay. I just want to hold you," Fllay replied, her voice strained._

"_Are you sad? Do you have a fight with Daddy? My friend said that his mother cried after his mother and his father shouted at each other"  
_

_Shaking her head, she said. "No, I just feel like holding you, that's all"_

_The girl hugged her back. "And I like to hold you too, Mama"_

_Fllay would have been content just to stay in that way, but she felt a pair of arms encircling her as well as the girl._

"_So, what are my girls doing right now?" a voice she knew very well crooned into her left ear, sending sparks of electricity throughout her body._

_The girl raised her head and exclaimed happily, "Daddy!"_

_Releasing the girl slowly and turning her body slowly toward the person behind her, Fllay found herself staring into a smiling Kira. "I…how?"_

_The young father smiled at his daughter who peered from behind Fllay. "See, Yuki? Your mother is so happy to see me that she's speechless" He then kissed the tip of Fllay's nose, causing her to slightly yelp._

"_Mama… you're acting funny again" Yuki commented._

_Kira straightened up and offered Fllay his hand. "Shall we go?"_

"_Go where?"_

"_Home"_

"_Home?" she echoed, the word sounded foreign to her. To her, home was where her mother was; ever since her mother died, Fllay never felt at home. To be sure, she and her father were together, but due to his busy schedule, George Allster hardly had any time to spend with his daughter._

"_Yes, home. Home where you, Yuki and I belong"_

"_Home…" Fllay uttered, full of hope as she took his hand. She then offered her free hand to Yuki who took it happily._

"_Come" Kira said as he led the two of them. "You know, even though I was held up by my work, I really missed the two of you. Everyday I look at the date and keep counting the days before I can go back"_

"_Really?" Fllay said distractedly, as her eyes were transfixed on his hand intertwining with hers. Somehow they holding hands felt so right to her. _

"_Yup. I really wonder how my wife Lacus and Yuki were doing"  
_

_Shocked, Fllay stopped in her track. But Kira and Yuki kept walking, as if not realizing that she had stopped, their hands holding on to nothing. But then, a form began to slowly appear between the two of them. First, translucent hands appeared, holding Kira and Yuki's hands. Then slowly, more and more began to appear, as a translucent body emerges. Then the body began to lose its translucent properties as Lacus slowly began to appear. Rooted at her place, Fllay raised her hand and tried to call for Kira, but no word came out of her mouth. She could only watch as Kira, Lacus and Yuki began to walk away from her until they were swallowed by the darkness. Then instantly, everything around the Allster girl began to disappear, leaving her in total blackness. Fllay looked around her to find anything, but it was pointless. She could only to see the darkness and shadows. Everything was pitched black, even the sky. Panic-stricken, she began to run, hopping to leave the place. But even as her feet made their sprightly flight, she was going nowhere. Then as sudden as it was, wind blew in her ears, whispering taunts and threats. Ignoring it, she kept her pace, until finally she stopped to catch her breath. _

"_Fllay Allster," a voice hauntingly similar to hers called out playfully. _

_The said woman jerked her head, trying to search for the origin of the voice. _

"_Fllay…"_

"_Where are you?" she called out in alarm_

"_I'm here" _

"_Where?"_

_The voice merely giggled. "Does it matter?"_

"_Who are you?"_

_Fllay felt two hands behind her shoulders. Instinctively she spun, only to see that there was no one behind her. Then her surrounding changed, and Fllay found herself on a street in a city. The street looked familiar, but she couldn't tell as the buildings around her were engulfed in flames. _

'_This is what I am,' the voice whispered near her ear. _

_Fllay turned to see that she was alone. She turned around, but there was no one beside her. The flames kept burning. Then, in an instance, the flame flared heavenward, turning the blue sky into yellowish hue. Fllay could only watch as the atmosphere burnt away, leaving dark traces where the flames were. When the flames finally extinguished themselves, she once again found herself in total darkness._

"_I'm you, Fllay" the voiced said again._

"_That's impossible. I'm me"  
_

"_Yes, but I'm still you"_

_Fllay felt a presence behind her and turned slowly, only to find a younger version of herself, dressed in the Earth Alliance's pink coloured Ensign Uniform. Not believing what she saw, she quickly looked at her body and then at the girl in front of her. "How?" she whispered hoarsely._

_But strangely, despite her mocking voice earlier on, the younger Fllay's face was quite neutral. "Simple. We're the two facets of the same person"_

_As her blood froze, the older Fllay's thought moved toward a single dreaded conclusion._

_As if knowing what the other was thinking, the younger one smiled. "Yes, it's just as you think. We have become fragmented. You, who represent the good side of Fllay, the current Fllay, the one who hopes for the future; and me, your sins and a part of your soul who lived in her past"_

"_It's because of what I did, isn't it?"_

"_No. It's because of what we did. The 'Fllay' that encompassed both our facets have been so focused at maintaining you to dictate her that she disavowed my existence" The smile became ironic. "Unfortunately, her other desire, which is me, is as strong as you… or perhaps even stronger now"_

"_You mean..."_

"_Yes. Because of him. Kira Yamato"_

_The older Fllay's right hand subconsciously moved to her heart, fisting itself._

"_It hurts there, isn't it?" _

"_Why? How do you know about that? And why does it hurt?"_

"_You know the answer to that as well as I do. Even before we know about our past, we remember him"_

_Slowly turning away as she didn't want her eyes to betray herself to whoever that was in front of her, she answered, "I don't understand where this is going" She felt a slender hand underneath her chin, pulling her face to the front._

"_I'm here not because I'm to fight you. We are the same person after all. I'm here to remind you"_

"_Warn me?"_

"_The reason I exist here, with you is because you have lost some of your determination to keep away from him, to protect him from a distance"_

"_Yes. That's because…"_

"_You don't want him to be with us, the one who betrayed him and his heart"_

_The older Fllay nodded. _

"_Yet, by doing so, you're betraying our heart. We should've remembered that we're not emotionless. Despite our training, despite what we have gone through, we have yet to lose our emotions." Taking the older Fllay's hands, she continued, "It's because of the thought of him in our memory that refused to be erased by the bastards' machines. But what they couldn't do, we tried to do it too. We tried to ignore what our heart was telling us. That's why Berlin happened"_

"_But that's due to the controls!"_

"_Really? Or is it because we have been trying to subdue our emotions that it burst out? Despite what others have told us, you and I know the fact that our soul is sick and it was because of that we lost our sanity that time. We were so caught up in our inner world that we ignored our own instinct at that time. We almost killed him"_

"_I know that" The older Fllay closed her eyes as she let her body dropped to the ground, settling into a kneeling position. "The realization that I almost killed him is driving me crazy with guilt"_

_The younger Fllay also dropped to her level and hugged the other Fllay, beginning to fade as she did so. "I know. That's why we must remember not to let him get to near us because then we might break"_

_In the end, there was only one Fllay, the older one. "He's in love with her and wouldn't be able to return the feeling to me. Plus, it doesn't matter what I want, not anymore" she said while hugging herself. _

She opened her eyes to a dark room. It hit her that she was on her bed, alone in the room, dreaming. The dream felt real, though, as evident from her arms around her body. Letting out a long breath, she got up and sat at the bedside, clutching at her aching heart. It was then she realised that her cheeks were damp. "To be away from him is painful. But yet, when I'm together with Kira… I could feel my soul ache. Somehow… I don't think I can keep up the charade any longer" She thought about the last time the two of them talked alone. Fllay had to use her Block signal to prevent herself from following her instinct, which was to hug Kira and never let go. But even then, he being close to her had frayed her willpower and it was by the stroke of luck that he was called away.

It was very painful for her to push him away toward another person's arms. The core of her soul hungered for him. Yet, she had accepted the fact that she was the one who used and thus, didn't deserve someone as good like him.

But that didn't stop the pain that she was currently experiencing in her heart.

Realizing that she couldn't go to sleep anymore, Fllay decided to sit on her bed. She leaned her back on the wall and hugged herself. She breathed deeply in an attempt to calm her inner turmoil but found it to be ineffective. After trying for a few minutes, she finally settled on recall the distant time when Kira had comforted her. As she viewed his face looking at her with full of concern and tenderness, she unconsciously hugged her knees as well, tightening her arms around herself even more.

"Kira…" She uttered his name; his name was the salve that helped to sooth the pain her sick and weary soul felt.

"Kira…" His name filled her with warmness and unrestrained emotions; emotions that she didn't show to everyone, not even her best friends on Cherubim.

"Kira… I really love you"

* * *

1

* * *

**Author's note (5 September 2006)**

1. Wow, I've missed my update schedule by five days. It's been a busy three weeks that saw me going from listless to lazy to tired to bored to everything else. Finishing my assignment for my accounting seems to drain a lot of energy from me and in the end, I somehow get the impression that my lecturer doesn't really read through my assignment.

2. To me, whenever I write about Fllay and Kira, I normally find it an interesting challenge. It's pretty normal for me to sometime go through other parts pretty fast, only to slow down when I get to them. By the way, that reminds me:

**The segment on Fllay in this chapter is inspired from fictions written by**

**a) SpiritBlade (Whisper softly in my dreams)  
**

**b) Lightning Zidane (Legend of the Razgriz)  
**

**c) Fllayastic (Miracle)  
**

**You would notice I borrow certain elements and ideas from each of the corresponding writers' stories. They're that good.  
**

At the same time, I guess I first came into contact with the name 'Salvation' in a fiction written Ramza. In his story, which is set in AU following the Gundam Seed, Kira eventually acquired a Gundam named Salvation which is a special mobile suit designed to subdue the enemies without killing them.

3. To Ri-kun, who left a review on 'Ever Stay With You', when I read your review, I was stumped. Not angry or annoyed or anything, just plain ol' stumped and confused because I didn't really expect a comment on that aspect (and was surprised as a result). Anyway, I appreciate you taking your time to leave a good and proper review of the story. As for the story being close to CLAMP's, it's intentional. It's a one-shot, tongue in the cheek kind of thing. If I'm to write it in according to my original plan for the story, I'm afraid that I will be distracted from my two major stories (this and Ever Stay Chaotic). Anyway, thank again for your review for that story.

* * *


	34. Pinocchio

Lunamaria heaved a long breath as she pressed the button, signaling the end of her training to familiarize herself with Core Splendor controls. As she leaned back on the pilot's seat, she could only marvel on Shinn being able to pilot it. With the order received from the headquarters informing her being reassigned to Impulse, it was up to her to master piloting it. The controls were very complicated and although the merging between Core Splendor, Chest Flyer and Silhouette Packs was aided by computer navigation, the pilot needed to maintain all of the three components' alignment. She briefly entertained the idea of giving up but decided that she belonged to the red coats, such attitude wouldn't fit her. Lunamaria never gives up, well, except for one little thing.

She peered at Gaia cautiously, as if afraid that certain someone was inside the modified mobile suit. Although she had taken pains to evade him, even coming to the hangar at the time where everybody was asleep save for few guards, Luna somehow had trouble believing that she had managed to evade meeting him for the past few days. Ever since she had humiliated herself in front of him, she had doubled her efforts to avoid him. Of course, there were some occasion where she had no choice but to meet him, such as during briefing, but even then she would only speak if it was necessary.

Putting her hands behind her head, the young pilot wondered whether she was being childish. After all, there was a war going on and people were being killed everyday, and there she was, thinking about problems with her crush. Flicking the switch to the Core Splendor's screen, she looked at its Operating System welcome screen before switching it off again. She looked heavenward, wondering about her parents in PLANTs. They must be worried for her and Meyrin's safety, especially the news about Minerva's defeat should be known to the public by then. Her eyes darted to the watch on her wrist, mentally calculating the time difference between the time zone Minerva was in and the one at home. It should be okay for her to be calling home. Jumping out of the cockpit, she quickly went to the nearest communication panel which was a few meters away, humming merrily. They must be happy to know that both she and her sister were all right. She quickly pressed her parent's home communication code, hoping to see either her mother or father answering the call.

To her surprise, the screen showed an 'Unauthorized Calls Barred' text box.

Figuring that perhaps she entered the code wrongly, she tried again, only to receive the same response.

"We're not allowed to call outside of this ship until it reaches Gibraltar" Athrun's quite voice echoed behind her.

Lunamaria let out a small shriek of surprise as she felt her body becoming rigid upon hearing his voice. Looking downwards, she could see the shadow he cast, telling her that he was behind her.

"The higher ups don't want the news about Minerva defeated to be known by the rest of the ZAFT force and the public as well, because that will affect the moral" Despite the serious tone, there was no mistaking the kindness in his voice.

"I see" Luna said as her hand trace the communication panel.

"So although we can't communicate with the outside world, I don't think that your parents would worry because they don't know what happened"

"I guess…"

"This ship will reach Gibraltar tomorrow night. So, maybe then I can put in a request for you and your sister to call home"

"Thank you, Commander" Luna said in a small voice.

"You don't have to call me that. Just Athrun is enough"

Lunamaria was quiet for a long time. "Now I understand" she said while nodding her head slowly. "I have always wondered why people Representative Attha and Lady Lacus like you so much. You're too kind, Athr… Commander. Too kind. To tell you the truth, I've always admired your bravery in the Second Jachin Due, how you fought to protect PLANT, but at the same time trying your best to end the war. In fact, you're one of the main reasons why I joined ZAFT. When I first know that you're onboard this ship, I have to admit, I'm just like a high school student having the opportunity to meet her idol. You're my idol.

"Luna…"

"Please listen to my selfish words a little bit more"

Athrun's shadow showed that he was nodding.

"I really respect and look up to you and was happy, no, ecstatic that you join Minerva. But slowly, that feeling of respect is being replaced by another feeling so foreign that it scares me. I like you, Athrun. That's why it hurts me knowing that you have someone else" She spun toward him, unshed tears glistening in her eyes. "That's why… I would like to call you 'Commander' from now on, so that I'll remember my station and would treat you in a formal manner, Commander" she finished, smiling sadly. Then she lowered her eyes as she felt that she couldn't look at him in the eyes.

Athrun gave a long look at her face, remaining quiet as he thought about what to do about the girl in front of him. His thoughts traveled to Cagalli and Lacus, wondering about how he felt about each of them, wondering about how he really felt about them. He knew that he felt concern for Lacus, when she was his first fiancée, was held by Archangel and Cagalli when he found out that she was about to marry Jona. But was that love that he felt for them? How about the feeling that he had about the girl in front of him? For some strange reasons, he felt a bit disappointed when she announced that she was giving up on him and she was going to put some distance between them by not calling him by his given name anymore.

"Commander?" Lunamaria's small voice brought him out of his stupor. She was still looking downwards.

He was still trying to sort out his feelings. Athrun needed more time to decide.

"If you don't have anything to say, I would like to excuse myself" Luna said, voice schooled and even as she saluted him.

The time to decide was taken out of his control when Lunamaria began to walk toward the hangar's exit. Somehow, it seemed to him that once she left the room then there would be no stopping her from changing their relationship anymore. Athrun had to admit that he was being irrational, but he didn't want to lose whatever it was between the two them. The memories of the girl smiling at him, even from the beginning of his stint on Minerva, the various situations they were in together with other pilots and her sister; he valued the memories. It was then that Athrun found himself grabbing her shoulders and turned her toward him, before planting a kiss on her forehead. The move surprised the girl who only reacted by standing still. He finally broke the kiss by pulling away, but still maintaining his hands on her shoulders.

"Um…" Luna could only say as her face flushed. "Athrun?"

He was being irrational. Yet, he felt relief washing over him when he heard her calling him by his name. Strengthening his hold on her shoulders, but yet mindful of hurting her, he said, "I know this sounds too much to ask, but… can we…," he looked away to conceal his embarrassment, "can we go back to the way the things were?"

"I'm sorry, but I don't understand"

"How to say this…" Athrun said, becoming flustered as he felt that he owed her the truth. "I somehow… somehow…"

"Somehow?" Luna prodded him.

"…I like you… your personality, Luna"

A cute gasp escaped from the girl's lips

"But I don't know whether this is…," he chuckled nervously, "and I know this is an unreasonable… and a bit rushed, and I also have some unsolved issues, but… really, I would want to know about you more. Maybe as friends and from there on, we'll see how it turns out?" He leaned toward her until their foreheads were touching. "Is it okay with you?" he whispered to her as he wiped the moisture off her eyes using the back of his hand.

Luna smiled. "I would like that very much"

Unknown to them, Meyrin was watching what has transpired, hidden from their view, a bittersweet smile on her lips. _"I know that you really like him, Sis, and I wish you good luck" _She wiped her face using her uniform's sleeve. _"Just know that I'll be there to cheer you on from now on, just like you cheered me on when we were small" _It was her that tipped of Athrun that Luna would be at the hangar by making an offhand comment about it, knowing very well that Athrun would to take the opportunity to try patch things up with her sister. Some people may call her stupid for trying to pushing him into her sister's lap, but for Meyrin, the love she felt for her sister was more than whatever she was feeling for Athrun. And as long as Luna's happy, Meyrin would be happy for her as well. Silently, she left the hangar.

* * *

Walking toward the ship docked next to Minerva, Shinn looked in amazement. "It's pretty amazing," he uttered. "It looks similar to Minerva" 

Rey who was walking beside him merely replied, "It's supposed to. After all, Jupiter belongs to the same ship class"

"Oh. But it doesn't have linear catapult for Impulse"

"Yes, because it wouldn't carry Impulse"

Shinn smiled. "Well, I guess"

Rey gave him a look before looking back at Jupiter. "You have changed, Shinn"

The Impulse pilot gave him a quizzical look. "Really? I didn't notice it"

"You sound more cheerful now. Before, you're always morose"

"Look, there's nothing between Athrun and I"

"I didn't suggest such thing" the blonde pilot said while giving an amused look.

Shinn huffed when he could come up with a suitable reply.

Rey gestured to Minerva's sister ship. "Jupiter will probably participate in the next fight we're going to have"

"I don't know about that. Who are we going to fight?"

"LOGOS"

"LOGOS…" Shinn said as memories of a certain Extended pilot began to flood in his mind. "We must stop them so that they will not carry out inhuman experiments or commit atrocities again"

"Some Earth Alliance countries seem to agree with us on that matter"

Shinn raised his eyebrows as realization dawned on him. "Ah! That explains why some ships we passed through just now look like Earth Alliance vessels. They're here to help us to fight it, right? But I still find it difficult to believe. After all, not more than a few months ago we're fighting them as enemies and now they're our allies"

"Shinn…"

"Yeah?"

"You're also more talkative now"

Laughing nervously, Shinn didn't look where he was going and bumped into a technician who was carrying some parts, causing the parts to be scattered on to the floor. The technician looked at the dropped parts in horror before turning his attention to the person who ran into him. Surprised that the man who bumped into him was an elite pilot, the technician quickly saluted. "I'm sorry sir! It's my fault! I'm supposed to be looking where I was going"

Lowering himself to pickup the parts, Shinn waved his hand dismissively. "It's okay, it's my fault"

"Wait, sir, there's no need for you to be doing that!"

Rey looked at the scene, sighed and proceeded to help. "The Chairman expects us to come on time, Shinn"

"All right, all right"

Together, the three of them picked all of the items.

"Here you are" Shinn said as he handed the final item.

"Thank you!" the technician said as Shinn waved it off and continued to walk toward the other ZAFT ship.

"Interesting, don't you think?" a voice next to the technician caused him to almost spill his things again. Luckily, the newcomer, a burly man in his 40s helped to hold them in place. "Come on, a newcomer like you wouldn't do well to be clumsy. It wouldn't look good for me as well, because I'm your supervisor"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Randolf sir"

"Just call Randolf" The supervisor took some of the items off the technician's hands. "I guess that's the first time you've met him?"

"Who?"

"Come on, Terrence, don't pull my leg. Don't you know the ace pilot Shinn Asuka? One of the two pilots who, according to rumors, took down Freedom?

"Really?"

"Yup! The other one's Zala. Heard that the Zala guy is supposed to be buddy buddy with Freedom's pilot" the supervisor said as he put the things on a work bench. "

"Oh" Terrence nodded while putting his things next to where Randolf put his.

"Just an 'Oh'? What did you do for the last couple of weeks? Holed up inside a cave?"

"Actually, it's a cavern"

Randolf laughed heartily while slapping the other man's back. "You have spunk, kid. I like that"

"Thanks, I guess" Terrence said, rubbing his shoulder.

"You know, I feel kinda jittery with all those Alliance ships docked in this port," the supervisor said, crossing his arms.

"Yeah, I understand how you feel"

"I mean, what happen if they suddenly decide to switch side and start firing at us?"

"That would mean trouble for us"

"Exactly my point"

"Well, maybe there's a silver lining somewhere…"

"That would be something I would like to see"

Terrence shrugged. For him, there was a silver lining in the matter. With all of the Alliance ships coming in to join ZAFT's fight against LOGOS, most of the security measures were directed to prevent any infiltration by spies onboard the ships that it made it easy for him to enter the base masquerading as a ZAFT personnel. It was a rather risky thing to do, but it was unavoidable. He needed some parts for Fallen, parts used by ZAFT prototype mobile suits and were only available at ZAFT's bases such Gibraltar or the ships that carry them, such as Minerva. "Minerva's pretty messed up," he commented.

"Its engines got hit pretty bad, which is it arrived here later than schedule. Sheesh, now we'll have to work around the clock to fix it," Randolf said.

"All right!"

"What do you mean all right? You like working so much, newcomer?"

"No. Hate it. But that means I'll probably get the chance to see Miss Lacus!"

"What do you mean?"

"Er, forget it"

"Come on, tell me"

"No, cause if I show you, then I'll be in hot soup," Terrence said, fake hesitant look on his face.

"You can trust me…"

After pretending to think about it, he nodded and brought out a camera.

"Do you know that it's illegal to bring a camera in here?"

"I know! That's why I didn't want to show you in the first place!" Navigating through the controls, he pointed at a taken picture. "Look"

Randolf looked and was surprised. "Impossible! Are you saying that she's onboard Jupiter?" he asked, almost out loud.

"Shh!" Terrence said while pulling the man closer. "I saw her that day and decided to bring a camera just in case I get the opportunity" He reached behind his pant and pulled out a small book. "See? I even got myself an autograph book just in case I get an opportunity"

"How long have you know about it?"

"Two days"

"You know about that and didn't tell everyone?" Randolf asked in disbelief.

"I told you that I can get into trouble if I tell you guys. And not to forget, you guys can also get into trouble as well. I'm telling you this because I know you wouldn't tell anyone else"

Rubbing Terrence's shoulder, the man smiled. "You can trust me not to tell anyone about what you told me"

"I know" Terrence smiled, knowing very well that Randolf will inevitably leak the story about Lacus being onboard Jupiter. Despite being a nice person, the man couldn't really keep his mouth shut. Soon, almost everyone inside the dockyard will learn about it; with most of them being ardent fans of Lacus, they would certainly try to catch a glimpse of her, causing the security level to drop a bit. Telling Randolf was risky, but he did it anyway to cause a slight diversion. Maybe then, Terrence would have the opportunity to gain access to the new prototypes' operating system. He looked as a woman winked at him, seemingly flirting with him; the truth was she was signaling him that she had accomplished what was required of her.

It would be had been an easy and even enjoyable mission for Terrence and a few of his fellow conspirators if it wasn't for the fact that Gilbert was at Gibraltar. And the coming motorcade told Terrence that he better stay out of sight because the ZAFT chairman was going on the ship.

* * *

Gilbert entered the meeting room of the ship and was saluted by five pilot pilots. He smiled curtly, remembering to control his face as it would be suitable for that present situation. Saluting back, he said, "You may be seated" 

After everyone including him, has taken their seats, he looked each one of them. "Firstly, let me thank you for coming here"

"The pleasure is ours," Rey said.

Nodding slightly, the ZAFT chairman turned his attention to Shinn, followed by Athrun. Noting that the FAITH member had head slowly downward, he instantly knew what to say. Closing his eyes and wringing his fingers together, Gilbert said, "Athrun. I like to apologize"

Athrun raised his head in surprise. "What do you mean, sir?"

Smiling inwardly as the pilot's reaction was as he expected, Gilbert continued in grave voice, "I'm very sorry that I put you through pretty hard time. It must be hard for you having to go through with it"

Athrun looked down, expression unreadable.

"It's unavoidable as Freedom is our enemy" Rey said, causing Athrun snapped his head toward him.

"No, Rey" Gilbert said before Athrun could say anything. Freedom, Archangel and Kira Yamato aren't our enemies. Unlike LOGOS… they're…," he paused, "currently on the opposing side, but they're not our enemies"

"If they're not enemies, why were we ordered to engage them?" Heine asked.

"Because they brought chaos to the war," Athrun said quietly. "That's why we have to bring them down"

Gilbert knew that it was better for him not to comment on Athrun's statement so that he would be seen as a sympathetic. "Although we're on high alert right now, you and Shinn can have a few days off"

Athrun said. "Thank you very much for your concern, Mr. Chairman, but I'm all right. However, Shinn would do deserve a few days off for his hard work"

"I'm okay" Shinn said"

"Are both of you sure about this?"

Both Shinn and Athrun nodded.

Getting to Athrun was simpler than expected, Gilbert thought to himself. The pilot was a simple man, after all. Initially, he was slightly worried that Athrun might harbor some resentment when he had ordered for Archangel and Freedom to be captured; failing which both of them would have to be destroyed. But looking him, Gilbert surmised that Athrun may have what it takes to help him achieve his goal. "Very well. In that case, we will continue with the briefing"

A screen appeared from one of the wall and displayed the world map. Most of the countries were either colored blue or white while a few of them were red in color.

"As all of you know, since our revealing LOGOS's existence, there has a major shift in the political movement. Most of the former Alliance countries now either support us or become neutral, as you can see from the blue and white designation"

"So that means the red countries, which includes the North Atlantic Federation, are supporting LOGOS?" Lunamaria asked.

"Yes. We'll cover that part in another briefing which will include Minerva and Jupiter's captains. The reason all of you're here is that I would like to request for your support to help bring this war to an end. Right now, we're trying our best through our diplomatic channel, but that doesn't mean that we have to drop our vigil" Gilbert got up. "Follow me"

All of them followed him to the Jupiter's hangar. There, they were surprised to see four mobile suits.

Gilbert looked at the four prototypes appreciatively before turning toward them. "I know it is wrong for me to say this, but these mobile suits will help us usher in the era of everlasting peace" He smiled softly. "It's pretty ironic that we're so near to achieving peace, but we still need more powerful weapons. But to tell you honestly, I really hope these four mobile suits wouldn't be needed" Walking toward one of them, the ZAFT's chairman turned toward Shinn. "This is Destiny and will be assigned to Shinn"

Shinn looked at the towering mobile suit in wonder.

"It has been tuned based on your previous combat data" Gilbert turned toward another mobile suit. "Heine would be assigned to Crusader which is a specialist close-range mobile suit"

Athrun was looking at a mobile suit that caused him to freeze as it resembled Providence, the mobile suit Raww Le Creuset was piloting in the Second Jachin Due battle. "That…"

"…is Legend, with improved DRAGOON interface" Gilbert finished to him. "Although it can be used by normal pilot, it would be assigned to Rey. As for your mobile suit Athrun…," he gestured toward last one, "I hope you can fight for your justice and ideals with it. It is called Infinite Justice"

"Infinite Justice…" Athrun said as he walked to the mobile suit's leg.

"Yes," Gilbert said, breaking into a small smile. "Infinite Justice"

* * *

1

* * *

**Author's note (17 October 2006)**

1. Some of you may be surprised by the first half of the chapter. Honestly speaking, when I thought about the general storyline about the Battle at Heaven's Base last year, it wasn't even that close this chapter. In fact, it's closer to the original GSD, with slight modification here and there. But now, to be writing about Athrun and Luna being closer, I'm rather surprised myself. However, it kinda feel right to be going along this path, judging from the few chapters before this.

2. Well, since Gilbert is my kinda super villain, might as well make him go all the way with the manipulation. So Gilbert didn't make that small mistake of revealing himself to be a megalomaniac that he was to Athrun, unlike the rather distasteful way he gloated about 'The future of mankind' in the series. I don't mind being corrected if I'm wrong, but for a genius of villain, it rather weird for him to be revealing his evil side to his unwitting puppet at such an early time (at least wait until the second last episodes, just like other animes)


	35. The beginning of a fall

Kira walked to the room, a laptop in his hand. He wasn't sure why it was requested, but it wouldn't hurt to oblige. After all, he could ask about it. Finally, he reached the room. Two guards who were standing at the room's entrance recognized him and instantly moved aside to allow him entrance. Smiling and nodding, he walked to the door just as it was opening and bumped into someone. The collision wasn't enough to fell him, but the person he bumped into was thrown back. He instinctively caught hold of the person using his free hand. He was rewarded with a pair of grey eyes looking at him in shock. Despite the condition he was in, Kira couldn't help thinking that they were beautiful. Then realization kicked in as he remembered the eyes' owner. "Fllay…"

Fllay's eyes widened slightly for the briefest moment before she caught hold of them.

But even in that briefest moment, Kira felt as if they were telling him a lot; so much that he couldn't possibly understand even one. Then, something struck him as peculiar. Her eyes. They were golden at that time. Or were they? He raised his head toward the room's ceiling, looking at its fluorescent light. Perhaps he was imagining things. At the same time he was thinking about it, his hand continued to encircle the person that he was holding; somehow it felt natural for him to be doing that.

"Um… Mr. Yamato?"

Then realizing that he was still holding her, Kira felt heat rushing to his face from embarrassment. He slowly released his hold on her, somewhat reluctantly. "Sorry. I was being distracted"

Standing up, Fllay said, "It's okay. I was just…" She didn't finish her sentence as her body swerved and her hand caught a projectile that nearly hit her head. Bringing her hand closer to inspect it, she was surprised to discover what it was.

"Whoops. I'm sorry," Neo Lornoke, who was on his bed with a food tray on his lap, apologized. "The spoon slipped off my hand. It's hard to eat with tied up hands, you know"

Fllay handed the spoon back to him. "It's okay. I better get going"

"See you later?" the colonel asked in a flirtatious tone.

"Maybe later than you expected?" Fllay said teasingly before turning toward Kira who was standing between her and the door. She nodded her head and smiled. "See you later too"

"Yes" was the answer coming out of Kira's mouth, moving out of the way. He felt like kicking himself in the back. Kira had wanted to talk to her some more and ask more questions. But when they finally met, his speech was reduced to just a few unintelligible words. _"I must talk to her," _he thought to himself. He whirled around, only to discover that the door was almost closed. Making up his mind to find her later to talk, he turned toward Neo Lornoke and was surprised to see that the colonel's eyebrows furrowed, as if he was thinking. "Here's what you requested," Kira said while handing him the laptop.

Putting his tray of food aside, Neo took the given laptop and place it on his laps. "Thanks, kid. Now I wouldn't get bored anymore"

Kira took a chair and sat next to the bed. "May I know what will you do with it?"

Grinning, Neo said, "I'm going to take over the ship and hold all of you captives"

Laughing at the joke, Kira replied, "I'll be sure to hack back into the ship when you succeed"

"Then you'll probably find my autobiography that will rock the publishing world. I'm going to call it, 'Captured by an Angel'"

"In that case I'll be the first in line to buy that book" Then remembering something, Kira leaned toward the colonel a bit. "Why did you throw the spoon at her just now?"

"I was checking her out…" Neo thought for a moment before correcting his words. "I was checking her reflex"

"Why did you do that, Mwu?"

Surprisingly, Neo didn't make a comment about Kira referring to him as Mwu. He looked at the laptop at his lap and then at Kira. "Well, I guess I do owe you a favor for lending me this computer" Taking a deep breath, he continued, "Did the girl ask for a separate room when she came on board this ship?"

"No, but her friend did"

"I guess as much. She's trained that way, after all"

"What do you mean?"

"Kid, I guess that by now you know that I had three Extendeds under my command"

Kira nodded.

"Those three normally sleep inside special chambers where we carry out their," Neo's face became scrunched, "maintenance. One of the most important rules that must be followed at all times is that they mustn't be awaken in normal way. Either we induce them to wake up from the console, or we just let them wake up on their own"

"Why? Will it be dangerous to rouse them suddenly?"

"Dangerous, yes, but to the person who tries to wake them up. There was a case where a newly assigned technician was accidentally killed by one of them when she tried to get them up by going to the pods and shook his body. It wasn't the Extended's fault as they were trained to be alert at all time, even when asleep. In fact, the reflexive reaction is so ingrained into their mind that the reaction is automatic

"Why?"

"In a fight, sometimes victory will be determined by the ability to strike first, right?"

"Yes" Despite not agreeing to what was being done to the Extended as they were human as well, Kira could see the logic behind the move. "But why are you telling me this? What does it have to do with Fllay?"

Neo noted that Kira referred to Fllay with her first name despite having met her for a short while. Then a flash hit him, followed by a scene of a younger Fllay holding a younger Kira who was crying playing in his mind. _'What the heck was that?_' he thought to himself. He decided to think about it later and instead focus on answering Kira's question. "Our lady friend just now was trained in the same way, so the two of you bumping into each other just now isn't supposed to happen. When I saw she bumped into you just now, honestly speaking I was shocked and thought that her training has deteriorated" Neo's eyes moved to look at the spoon on the tray. "Apparently that's not the case" His eyes roved back to Kira. "As it is right now, you're probably the very few people that can ambush her or kill her in her sleep"

Kira gasped as the full understanding of Neo's words hit him.

After pausing at the reaction being shown by the man in front of him, Neo continued. "You see, there're two possible reasons that I can think of. One, you're one heck of person for able to sneak up on another person, or two…"

"Two?" Kira asked, a bit impatient.

"Somehow or someway, her instinct doesn't think of you as a possible threat" Neo struck a thinking pose. "Hmm… I don't think the second reason's that probable"

Their conversation continued on, but Kira barely paid attention to what was being talked about. His thought was focusing on Neo's or rather Mwu's comment that perhaps subconsciously, Fllay knew or remembered him despite her not recognizing him. Later, after Kira had left the room, he went for a walk to think about it. Truth be told, he wasn't sure where he was going but anywhere wouldn't matter much to him. He was just trying to think, letting his feet guide him to wherever they wanted to go. Which was why he was surprised when he finally arrived at the destination. He had arrived at his favorite observatory. Normally when he had a problem or needed to think about something, like the time when he was having misgiving about fighting Athrun and ZAFT, he would go to the place. The fact that he automatically went to the place wasn't unexpected. What had surprised him was the fact that Fllay was standing at the same spot, looking out at the vast ocean.

Kira thought about joining her but instead decided to wait. He quickly ducked into a hidden bulkhead, intent on observing her. Despite their intense relationship a few years ago, he didn't really know about her. Sure, he knew about her father's unfortunate demise; but apart from minor details, nothing much. Even while they were on Heliopolis he would just observe her from afar. He had found her cute and would have approached her if he hadn't found out the engagement between Sai and her. But that was a life time ago. Kira let out a small breath he was holding since he came across her.

Fllay had only Sai and later, him. Mirriallia once told him that after he was presumed to be dead, Fllay would spend a lot of time alone in the room. There was a time when she found the red head girl talking to Torii as if it was Kira. Sai had approached Fllay to reconcile, but was denied as the red head girl would simply say that she had ruined herself and wouldn't want Sai to suffer as well.

As Kira continued looking at the woman in front of him, he wondered what she meant when she had ruined herself. Was her hatred for Coordinators was so strong that she considered herself ruined for making love to him? But to him, when they made love, he had felt her gentleness and passion. They couldn't be acting on her part, could they? He couldn't have known, as even though he loved Lacus, the two of them hadn't gone to the stage yet. Lacus was an epitome of a perfect being, what he and other Coordinators should become. As such, whenever they were close, Kira couldn't help feeling as if he was a dirty mongrel that was about to stain her innocence.

After giving it a thought, he decided to approach her and was about to do so when a small green object flew and landed on Fllay's shoulder.

"TORII!" The mechanical bird sang to her.

"Good afternoon to you too" She smiled as she rubbed its head fondly. "My little green companion, why are you here? Is your owner too busy for you?"

"TORII?" Torii cocked its head, as if puzzled by the question.

Fllay giggled. "No, I don't mind you coming to me. I'm quite free myself"

"TORII…"

"I suppose I must be out of my mind for talking to you… and pretending that you know what I'm talking about. But it is okay"

Torii flapped its wings slowly.

"Hmm… glad to see at least one of us is happy" she said, eyes downcast.

"TORII?"

"No, nothing important. The sea is beautiful, isn't it? I can see a lot of fish swimming. It seems so calm underwater that it almost made me wonder whether the world is still at war…" she leaned toward the glass window, sighing softly.

Kira had to stifle an urge to go to her side and ask her what was wrong.

"What should I do?" Fllay asked as she fisted her hand that was resting on the window. What should I do now that I am here?" She banged against the window softly. "It's a mistake to begin with"

Torii looked at her sympathetically.

She giggled again. "Sorry. It's just that I'm a bit flustered right now. Normally, I know what needs to be done; but now…" Suddenly Fllay tensed and straightened up. Kira thought that he had been found but was relieved to discover that Fllay was looking in another direction.

"Here you are," a feminine voice called out to her.

"Oh, it's you, Mirriallia"

"I'm sorry for making you wait, but I needed to take care of something"

"It's no big deal"

"So, shall we go?"

"Sure"

They walked away from the place, unaware of the hidden observer. Still in his place, Kira stood rigidly as he tried to understand what she meant by her comments. Then suddenly he realized something. Fllay seemed to remember a lot of people on Archangel. In fact, he was probably the only one she didn't remember. Kira felt a twinge of jealousy. How could she forget him? Although it was brief, they had a very intimate relationship. It would be unfair for her to conveniently forget what they shared. Hope rose inside him when he remembered about the dream he had while he was rescued by her. Maybe it wasn't a dream after all. Maybe it was really her that was talking to him at that time. In that case, she must remember. If not, he would help her to do that. Suddenly, guilt filled him when he remembered about Lacus. Somehow he felt that he was betraying her by thinking about Fllay. No, he reminded himself. He was going to help her get her memory back, nothing more. He, Kira Yamato was in love with Lacus and would remain faithful to her. "I'll only help her remember about me, that's all"

At the same time, inside the infirmary, Neo's eyes narrowed as he read what was being displayed on the laptop's screen. He reread the passage again and again, not wanting to believe what was there. But the fact that it was there proved itself to him. "Damn" he cursed in a slow voice. His fingers hovered above the keyboard as he tried to decide what to do.

* * *

Somewhere on the Earth's orbit, a group of Nazca and Laurasia cruisers were preparing for the possible assault on the Earth Alliance or rather the LOGOS's headquarter. Since the operation also called for a large scale mobile suit drops to be executed, their task was to help prepare for it. Tension was high in the air because the operation may be executed at a moment's notice. Despite that, everyone was working fervently to ensure that it would be a success because if it was successful, then the war between Earth Alliance and ZAFT would be over. 

On board one of the Nazca cruisers, a female in ZAFT's white commander uniform was overlooking the preparation. She was only 25 years old, can be considered as quite young to command her own ship, lest a whole fleet. However, in ZAFT, a young commander is not an uncommon sight. Helena was promoted to the current position because of her experience and meritorious service in the first war. And according to her experience, if the enemy is not doing anything, it's a sign that it was planning something more sinister. As if confirming her worry, the warning siren went off.

"Condition Red," the captain called out. She turned toward radar console. "How many of them?"

"Two mobile suits, designation unknown, wait… they're 'Dark Buster and 'Dread Duel'" the officer manning the radar answered, slight panic seeping through his voice.

Helena's eyes widened. "Impossible! They're supposed to be on Earth"

"Hold on. Two more ships have entered our radar range" The officer quickly verified the information. "According to the heat signature, they're Boogey-1 class battleships," Because ZAFT never found out about Girty Lue's name, it was called as Boogey-1 by Captain Talia of Minerva. Since then, ZAFT also referred to the ship with that name. The fact that the two incoming ships were classified as Boogey-1 class meant that they were similar to that ship.

"Boogey-1? But how come they're not using their Mirage Colloid?" She bit her lips. "Whatever it is, we shall destroy them. Launch all mobile suits at one"

It was the last command she gave before the bridge was pierced by a powerful projectile, killing everyone inside it in an instant.

The shot was fired from a large rifle being held by a mobile suit that has been irreverently referred to as 'Dark Buster'. The Buster look-alike differs from its predecessor by having a slightly bulkier body. Instead green color scheme, it sported green, brown and black camouflage. The mobile suit fired again, this time hitting the ship carrying ZAFT's drop pods.

Inside the Earth Alliance's mobile suit, a pair of yellow eyes calmly surveyed the damage it has done to the fleet.

Alerted to the attack, ZAFT sent its mobile suits complement of ZAKUs and Goufs to intercept the mobile suit. The mobile suit managed to destroy a few of them before they got close enough to attack it. But before they could attack it, they were stopped by another mobile suit. It quickly slashed them into oblivion.

"Damn you" a Gouf pilot cursed as 'Dread Duel' made a short work of his flight. The blue and white camouflaged Earth Alliance mobile suit had some kind of apparatus on its head, making it looks like as if it had horns.

As if hearing the curse uttered by the Gouf's pilot, Duel turned and attacked it.

The Gouf pilot, one of ZAFT's elite red pilots skillfully evaded Duel's attack and counterattacked. The both of them engaged in a series of attacks and counterattacks until he managed to get behind Duel. However, it proved to be a mistake as the 'horns' turned to the back and fired, crippling his mobile suit. Then Duel proceeded to tear open the mobile suit and pulled him out of the cockpit.

Inside Duel's own cockpit, a face was grinning gleefully as Duel's large mechanical hands began to slowly tear off the ZAFT pilot's limbs, reveling at the sight of him screaming in pain. Finally, the injured pilot was flung into the space as Duel and its brethren turned their attention toward other ZAFT mobile suits.

The ongoing onslaught was being transmitted by the mobile suits' carrier directly to Heaven's base, Earth Alliance's stronghold located in Greenland. As he looked at the screen, Djibril laughed sardonically as the two mobile suits keep on with their rampage; numerous deaths and destructions were left in their wake. Smiling gleefully, he turned toward other LOGOS members. "What do you think of Buster MKII and Duel Kage? Isn't it amazing the way they quickly make a short work of those wretched Coordinators? Of course, with our Ultimate Berserkers piloting them, those genetic monsters didn't even stand a chance"

One of them asked "Is it okay for us to attack them like this?"

"Ha! Okay, you ask? Don't say foolish things. We're in the middle of a war. You're not going to suggest telling them that we're attacking, do you? Or do you forget that preemptive strike leads to victory?"

"We understand and support this all the way, Djibril," another one agreed. "But what shall we do afterwards? ZAFT will retaliate against our attack"

"ZAFT will attack us here even if we stay here quietly" The LOGOS' leader turned and gave the man an incredulous look. "If you think that they really want to make peace with us, you have another thing coming. The fact that they're making preparation here proved that peace was the last thing on their minds"

"Djibril is correct" another member concurred. "The Coordinators are claiming that they wanted to end our domination, which is an obvious lie. Sadly, our own people are being intoxicated by their lie"

"That's true" the man who questioned Djibril's move agreed. "We know that there is no being that is all powerful and all benevolent. Gilbert is probably interested in getting rid of us and then takes over our place"

"That's why we'll fight back" Djibril said as his face contorted in anger. He smiled evilly. "You have yet to see Rommel and McArthur in action"

Back at the orbit, on board one of the remaining ships, the captain was sweating as he watched the massacre.

"Sir, we lost another flight of ZAKUs to them! Furthermore, Cheng Ho and Jawarhalal has been destroyed"

"Damn it! Can't we contact Gondswana yet? Tell them Commander Helena and her flagship has been destroyed"

"Yes, sir. They're sending reinforcements and the ship itself is moving toward this vector, but it will take some time for to arrive"

"Some time!? What time!? We don't have enough time! Those two are blasting everything in their sights"

Another voice announced. "Sir, the two Boogey-1 class ships are closing in on us"

"Any visual?"

"On screen"

The monitor showed two blue ships moving toward ZAFT's fleet. Unlike Boogey-1, the ships bore Earth Alliance marking. Plus, they have more cannons mounted on them. They each carried two pods underneath their stern.

"Nuclear weapons?" someone asked about the pods worriedly.

"I don't think so. They're too big. After all, they're too near to use them"

"Sir, the two mobile suits are retreating into the two ships. What shall we do?"

"Pursue them. Don't let them get away"

"Sir, they have launched the pods"

"Evasive maneuver" The captain grunted as he continued to eye the objects. His guts were telling him that something was wrong with them.

"But according to their trajectory, they will miss us"

"I don't care! Just do it"

"Yes"

As the remaining ships and mobile suits began to move away, the four pods continued to move toward them at high speed. When the objects were near enough, a ZAKU pilot saw that-tell tale sign of missiles warheads on them and cried out in alarm, "FUCK! MISSILE RACKS! MOVE AWA …"

But it was too late. The four missile racks unleashed their deadly loads on the remaining fleet, totally decimating them.

Laughing as the remaining opponents have been wiped out, Djibril gestured toward the screen with his glass of martini. "See?! That's how we're supposed to fight this war. Fast, precise and lethal"

"We admit your planning looks impressive, but what exactly are you planning?"

The leader of the LOGOS group took a sip before replying, "Isn't it obvious? Those Coordinators were planning to drop in on us, so we might as well return the favor" The screen then changed to show another Girty Lue-class ship with eight drop pods. It then released the pods and they started to descent toward Earth. "Yamashita is going to give generous gifts to those bastards"

"Those drop pods..."

"Do the Coordinators really think that we're dumb enough not to create our own drop pods?" Djibril asked in disgust. "They're more stupid than we give them credit for"

"Where are they going to land?"

"Carpenteria," he answered.

"But Djibril… Those mobile suits wouldn't even last more than few seconds against ZAFT's defense there"

"Huh?!" Djibril said mockingly. "Who says we're dropping mobile suits?!" The view then shifted to ZAFT's Carpenteria base, taken from a distance. "Observe. This is from one of our submarines stationed nearby"

The stronghold launched its mobile suits to intercept the drop pods, but the eight of them has already disintegrated, releasing small objects. The objects, hard to aim accurately, hit the mobile suits and exploded. The rest rained on the base, causing multiple explosions that leveled the base.

"HA HA HA HA HA. What did I tell you? Gilbert was so busy planning to attack us here in Heaven's that he left his backyard unguarded. That's why it gets TRAMPLED by us" Djibril said.

Despite not using any nuclear weapons since the failed attack on PLANTs, LOGOS had numerous powerful mobile suits and weaponries in its arsenal. The weapon used on the ZAFT's base, known as Tactical Razing Ammunition, Mass Propagation Land Expungers, or TRAMPLE for short, was a massive weapon containing thousands of bomblets, designed for widespread destruction. Some of the bomblets had timers built-in so that they would explode in certain interval, thus hampering any major repair work on the target.

"Djibril, this is impressive" an elderly LOGOS member commented.

Djibril snorted. "Of course. I would love to see the look on Gilbert's face right now"

Meanwhile, in a darken office in Gibraltar, Gilbert was looking at the video of the ravaged base, a soft smile on his lip. "This should be more than enough. You have breached my Sicilian Defense," he said, referring to one of the famous strategies in chess. "Thank you, Djibril"

* * *

1

* * *

**Author's note (30 October 2006)**

1. Happy Eidl Fitri to all Muslim readers

2. Finally, Dark Buster and Dread Duel made their appearance, being piloted by two APEX pilots or as referred to by Djibril, the 'Berserkers'. No Dastardly Strike, Sneaky Blitz or Horrifying Aegis to follow, although Fallen can be considered as 'Evil Freedom'. But do expect another EA mobile suit type to come out for the fight between ZAFT and LOGOS.

3. Some of the weapons are inspired by other Gundam series, although I'm not sure whether there is any weapon that resembles TRAMPLE, which I based on cluster bombs, or in particular, those with random delay action.

4. This chapter was slightly altered, following some comments from an offline reader.

* * *


	36. The never ending circle

Gilbert banged his table in anger, startling the officers in front of him. "How could this happen? Not only the orbital team has been wiped, and now you're telling me that our base in Carpenteria has been attacked as well?"

One of them tried to explain, "But we're doing everything that we can"

"That's not good enough!" he almost shouted. "What is our intelligence doing? Sleeping on the job?"

"Our apologies sir," another officer murmured.

Gilbert massaged his temple to control his composure. "There's no need. I'm the one who's supposed to be apologizing. It's my fault that the attack occurred. We should have been more vigilant, despite our peace negotiation with them"

"No, sir. It's not your fault. You have been cautious enough; the LOGOS is the one to be blamed for attacking us despite the temporary ceasefire accord"

The ZAFT chairman sighed. "Whatever it is, what's more important now is to think about what we should do"

"We can divert some of our forces here to Carpenteria," another suggested.

He thought about it for a moment. "No"

There were surprised looks on most of them.

"It will take few days for our fleet to move there and should Djibril attack here, we will be defenseless. Besides, diverting some of our fleet to Carpenteria would send unwanted messages to our Alliance allies.

"But we need to help the base"

"We will help Carpenteria but it would have to be done via a drop and reinforcement via friendly countries. Now, please leave me alone for a while. I need to think. Brief me about the situation every one hour until the situation there improves. Further more, ask Gondwana to send a few more ships to the drop area to guard the place"

All of them saluted and exited the room. Gilbert looked at the door as the final one left before pressing a button on his desk. His favorite chess board appeared from a trap door on the left side of the table. He examined it carefully. Although the White seemed to be in a more powerful position, the Black's bishop was putting the White king under 'check'.

"Now, Djibril my rival. You seemed to have put me in a' check'" He put his fingers together and relaxed against his seat. "I have to admit, it bothers me a lot"

He let a cunning smile creased his face as he moved one of the pieces, effectively ending the 'check' while setting up for the Black's bishop's removal from the board. The move also paved way for the Black king to be routed. Gilbert knew, because he was the one who enticed the Black king to be there.

"I thought that it would take a lot more than that to trick you to come out of your hole. I'm disappointed to see you taking my bait easily"

Gilbert knew that attacking Heaven's base dead on will be difficult as Djibril and his LOGOS lackeys would be well entrenched inside the fortification. In order to defeat them he need to lure them out. He remembered the old Chinese stratagem, 'Using a brick to lure a gem'. That was exactly why he ordered for orbital drop preparation to be carried out earlier. He knew that Djibril would try to disrupt it. And his planning was rewarded when the LOGOS madman ordered his newest mobile suits and battleships to attack the fleet. Now, ZAFT knew their capabilities to some extent.

He didn't really expect for Carpenteria to be attacked, but that was a good omen. Djibril will likely to mobilize his own fleet to attack Gibraltar in expectation of him send some of the ZAFT fleet at the base to Carpenteria. Gilbert looked at chessboard. There's still a possibility that LOGOS wouldn't move to attack Gibraltar, but that would work to his advantage even more. Gilbert smiled. LOGOS would certainly attack. But as rash as Djibril was, he wouldn't likely attack Gibraltar directly. Strategic consideration necessitates establishment of a base where the attack would originate from, preferably from the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. But where? Gilbert opened his computer and conducted a search for the map of Atlantic Ocean. A cluster of islands caught his attention.

"Azores Islands" he uttered. It was a group of islands belonging to Portugal, an ex-member of the Eurasian Federation. He thought about the situation. If ZAFT could establish a base at the islands, it would be a perfect base to stage an attack on the LOGOS's base in Greenland. Of course, diplomatic and political matters needed to be taken care of. Diplomatic envoys could be sent to Lisbon, the country's capital to tell, no, to inform the nation's administration about ZAFT intention to mount their defense against LOGOS at those islands, especially at the Graciosa Island, the most northern. Of course, in return, ZAFT and its Earth Alliance allies would protect them from LOGOS's invasion. Gilbert thought about the plan and felt that it was a good one. Besides paving the way for the destruction of LOGOS, the request for the use of the islands would also allow him to gauge the nations on Earth's trust in ZAFT, crucial for his Destiny plan to succeed.

Suddenly a dark thought occurred to him. He quickly picked up the phone. "I want all intelligence on the Azores Island immediately! Give me all geographical data, newest satellite photos; everything!" After putting the phone, he continued his muse about the whole situation, glancing at his favorite chessboard from time to time. Fifteen minutes later, the screen of his computer starts to change as information started to trickle in. Gilbert quickly browsed through them and found out that what he had suspected was true. Satellite photos indicated that LOGOS had indeed annexed the islands, probably with Portugal's knowledge. The fact that a base has been constructed showed that the islands have been captured for quite some time; probably a few months earlier. Invading Gibraltar was in Djibril's plan all along.

He continued to stare at the information for a few minutes before allowing a smile to appear on his lips. He had miscalculated Djibril's capability to plan ahead and as a result lost the advantage. Nevertheless, the LOGOS leader's strategy was working to his advantage in the end. Gilbert shifted his attention to the map of Azores Islands and thought about what could be done to manipulate the current situation to the maximum. He picked up the telephone once more. "Hello, please relay to Team Ezwan to continue with the preparation. They will receive the order anytime soon" He listened as the other party talked. "Yes, bring along the Specters and Valkyrie" After the conversation ended, he put down the phone and shifted his attention back to the chess board.

"Well, Djibril, you certainly have made this game more interesting…"

* * *

Lacus, flanked by Andrew Bartfeld, Da Costa and a few more people in ZAFT and Earth Alliance uniforms looked at the Pacific Ocean map being displayed on the table's screen. She looked at every one of them slowly before looking at the map once more. She then said, "This is what I believe the Chairman will do"

Da Costa couldn't believe what was being said. "That's impossible! For him to be doing that, it's…"

"Easy enough," Andrew said, hands folded. "Not to mention that Djibril will fall for the diversionary attack"

Lacus turned her attention to one of the Earth Alliance officers. "What's your opinion about this, Colonel Ryder?"

Colonel Ryder nodded. "I have to admit, that's a very bold and risky strategy, but one that would probably work. If he's going for this strategy, then that means that he has ample information on the fleet itself"

"A high ranking mole in the chain of command, perhaps?"

"Or one of the LOGOS members themselves"

"If that's the case, then it would make sense how ZAFT managed to get the blueprint to the energy shield generator" Lacus said as the schematics of ZAFT newest mobile suits were being displayed on the map.

Looking at her from his remaining eye, Andrew could only marvel at the intelligence being displayed by the Clyne heir. Ever since she got involved with the war, Lacus has been displaying leadership traits and capabilities that, in his opinion, surpassed her father's, the famous Siegel Clyne. Far from being a dumb bimbo her detractors had accused her of being, she had led, planned and coordinated the Terminal's operation, the neutral faction that's highly motivated to bringing the war to an end. An example of her brilliant thinking was her decision not to appear to the public and expose her imposter. Andrew himself wondered why she didn't do it despite numerous opportunities. When asked, Lacus replied that while it seemed like a good idea, it may be detrimental to Terminal in the long run as whatever move she made would be exploited by Gilbert. She continued that if she was in Gilbert's position, she would use the opportunity to tarnish her name by pointing out to the people that it was the imposter who was with the people when Alliance struck and not her. While it wasn't true as Lacus was doing her best to help PLANTs behind the scene, Andrew could see that such strategy would sow distrust in the public. And without its trust, it would be harder to persuade them. That was why the songstress maintained that it was better to leave things as they were at that moment.

Of course, he tried to persuade her by saying that Gilbert might try to tarnish her name by using the imposter, but Lacus merely smiled and said that he wouldn't do that as then she would take the advantage to make her appearance. Despite being a good commander, Andrew was more into battlefield than into politics; that was why his mind boggled at how far Lacus and even Gilbert could plan ahead their strategies. Watching them making their moves was like watching a very huge chess game where a very small move may cost the lives of thousands of people or even total defeat. Despite trying her best not to show it, he could see that she felt that great pressure. He sighed, mentally renewing his vow to support her to the end. "Hmm… but they could reengineer the shields from those captured prototypes," he said.

"Although it has access to them, our tech department tells us that it would take ZAFT another few months to produce a compact version similar to the one being mounted on Strike Freedom" She pointed to Infinite Justice. "As you can see from here, this is not the case"

"Wait!" Da Costa uttered. "That's means their mobile suits are…"

"Probably at par with Freedom, especially Justice, Legend and Destiny," a ZAFT officer continued.

Everyone tensed at the statement except for Lacus who was looking at the schematics. "That reminds me. Eurasian Federation, through Cherubim, would probably join us. I'm scheduled to meet the ship's captain the day after tomorrow"

"Cherubim?" Andrew grinned at the memory of him having to save Cagalli's mobile suit when its flight pack was damaged by the ship's own. "That means Fallen would be there as well? I can't wait to see the pilot"

Lacus shook her head. "The mobile suit was heavily damaged in battle with Freedom so it's currently being rebuilt. And as for the pilot, if I'm not mistaken, she's onboard Archangel right now"

The Dessert Tiger's expression changed. What could be so important that the Cherubim's captain assigned her to go to Archangel?

* * *

"In the end, this ship was converted into a submarine" Mirrillia said, concluding her talk.

Fllay giggled. "You sound just like a tour guide"

"Well, _excuse me_"

"But I'm not saying that to offend you, but it's just interesting. It's as if you have been to many places"

"I was a freelance photographer before this"

"Oh, in that case, do you know the name of the photographer that took the picture of Himalaya? You know, the one published in the World Geographics' five months ago?"

"You mean the picture of the peak of the mountain during sunset?"

"Yes! That's the one"

"Oh. I do know that photographer" Mirrillia said slyly.

"You do?"

"Yeah. The photographer decided to do her bit to help end the war"

"I… I don't get it"

"I'm the one who took the photograph, silly," Mirriallia said while grinning.

"You can't be serious!" Fllay said disbelievingly.

"Well, I had to wait for two weeks to get the best shot, but in the end, it's all worth it"

Fllay put her hands on the other woman's shoulder. "You're amazing! I really like that picture very much"

"But I honestly think that you're the amazing one, Fllay,"

"Hmm?" Fllay asked with a confused expression. "What do you mean by that?"

"To tell you honestly, I've never thought that Fallen's pilot is you. It was nothing short of amazing"

Fllay looked at her hands and shook her head. "It's not that amazing. I'm just a soldier, that's all. Nothing more"

"But Fllay…"

She smiled softly and put a gloved finger on Mirrillia's mouth to quiet her, shaking her head once more. "Just a soldier," Fllay repeated as she withdrew her finger.

"Fllay…"

"Think about it, if I'm not a soldier, I wouldn't be here on this ship" Fllay said cryptically.

"In that case, I'm a soldier too"

"Yes, but we're totally different" Fllay held out her forefinger. "You, Attha, everyone on Archangel; all of you still that one little thing that makes you special"

"One thing still intact? What is it?"

Fllay smiled sweetly. "It's a secret"

"But I want to know"

"Very well, tell me how you feel about the attack on Carpentaria?"

Mirrillia's expression fell. "It's very awful. Even from the news you can see so much destruction and so many deaths"

"That's what I lost"

The ex-photographer didn't understand what the woman said until it dawned on her that Fllay's expression neutral as she said those words.

Fllay nodded when she saw the unasked questions in the other woman's eyes. "Personally, I feel that the attack is a good move from strategic point of view"

Feeling a bit disappointed as what she suspected has been confirmed, Mirriallia asked, "Why?"

"It's easier to fight if you stop caring. But that's my viewpoint. I believe the person behind us have a different belief on that matter"

Mirrillia turned around to see that someone was indeed behind them. "You, Cagalli?"

"What makes you think that I would follow you around as if I have nothing better to do?" Cagalli asked Fllay.

The Fallen's pilot was calm as she replied, "I didn't say that. I was just stating the fact that someone was behind the two of us for quite some time. And I didn't even know it's you"

"Oh," Cagalli said while blushing. She patted her uniform. "I'm just making sure that you're not leading her to anywhere restricted, Mirrillia"

"So, in that case, why don't you escort us, Ms. Attha?" Fllay interjected before the other woman could say anything.

"No. But maybe it's better for the two of us to have a talk"

Fllay nodded at Mirriallia and the woman took it as a cue to leave.

"Follow me" Cagalli said.

The red head followed her until they entered an empty room. She looked around before turning back toward Cagalli, "So what do you want to talk…"

Her hand managed to stop Cagalli's slap from reaching her face. But there wasn't much strength in the slap to begin with.

"Why?" Cagalli asked as a tear rolled down her cheek. "Why are you here?"

Fllay released her hold on Cagalli's hand. "What do you mean?"

Cagalli held her hand. "Why are you here?"

"Because, if I'm not here, where would I be?"

"YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD, DAMMIT!" Cagalli shouted. Then, realizing what she stammered an apology. "I'm… I'm sorry. I didn't mean that"

"Sure you do" Fllay said softly.

She looked away. "I'm not! It's just that… I blurted it out"

"I'm a woman as well, Ms. Attha, so I really know well when a woman is lying. The reason you blurted it out is because you're frustrated with the fact that there are some ORB soldiers were killed and I, their killer is waltzing around this ship, pretending as if nothing happened. Am I right?

Cagalli hesitated for a while before nodding.

Fllay eyed Cagalli for a long time before she finally continued. "Look, if you want to hate me, then I'm not going to do anything to change it. In fact, it would be easier if all of you just hate me. It makes my life easier"

She turned and was about to walk away when Cagalli caught hold of her hand.

"Why? Why it is easy for you to kill other people?" Cagalli's voice was pleading. "Why do you kill when it does is to perpetuate the circle of destruction? Can't you see that the people you killed all have aspirations, dreams? Don't you realize that every time you kill a person, you're causing grief to his family and friends?"

Fllay stopped, but didn't turn to face her. "I don't care. It is as simple as that. Unlike you, I'm a selfish person. I only care about my needs. I don't care about their dreams and aspirations. In war, everyone has a reason to fight. The sad thing is each side's reasons' are good and valid. Freedom and Archangel are fighting so that you can prevent people from dying, right?" The redheaded girl didn't have to look at Cagalli to know that she was nodding. "I don't fight to prevent soldiers from dying. I fight in hope that I can somehow help to bring the war to a faster end. If that means that I have to kill soldiers like myself, then so be it. While peace can only be started by leaders like you, wars can only be stopped by the soldiers themselves"

"Kira is a soldier, but he doesn't want to kill"

Cagalli never really knew what happen but she felt herself being slammed into cold steel wall, forcing air out of her lung. Before she could recover from the shock, a loud banging noise to her right side startled her. Her eyes darted toward the direction and saw a palm just next to her face. She looked in front to see that Fllay was hiding her eyes beneath her bangs.

"Don't you dare say that Kira is a soldier again" Fllay said quietly while raising her head to look at the blonde woman.

She was shocked by what was said. But it was trivial compared to the sight she was seeing. A pair of rabid yellow eyes bored into her soul. _'But that was impossible!' _she thought to herself, not realizing that she was in danger. Although her eyes were golden as well, it was their natural color. She was sure that Fllay's eyes were supposed to be grey.

Fllay was trembling as she gritted her teeth, as sign that she was trying to control herself. "Don't you dare say that he's a soldier! He is not. He is too pure to be a soldier, too good to be compared to animals like me. I thought that you as his sister should know that by now. Don't you know that he used to cry every time he returns from piloting his mobile suit? Don't you know how it pains him having to go against other people, killing them?" Her hand which was on the wall curled into a tight fist. "I guess you don't know that kind of pain, do you? Maybe you also don't know the pain he felt when a person next to him used him as a tool to further her selfish ambition and to seek revenge" She smiled bitterly. "Unlike you, I know it about it very well"

Cagalli didn't know how to react. "How do you know…"

The Fallen's pilot lowered her head as a drop of water splashed on the metal floor below her. "What's wrong by being selfish and only care about one's desires? Why must I care about people who try to kill the people I love when they don't care? Must I protect them when I can barely protect the people that I really care about? Tell me!" Her voice was slightly broken by the time she said that. Her fist, which was still next to Cagalli's face tightened even more. "I can still clearly remember that you cried when the ORB military men died attacking Minerva. So, tell me, did you cry for those ZAFT soldiers who perished because of your fleet's attack? Do you?"

"I…"

"Do I have to cry for those who I killed; the very same one who killed my friends? I let them go, and they killed my best friends! Isn't it enough that I ensure that the killers' deaths were as swift as possible?

Must I cry for them as well?"

"But…" Cagalli stuttered. "But… killings will only beget more killings"

"Of course. You're right. Then...," it sounded as if Fllay was gritting her teeth, "What would you do if you're in my position then? What happen if one day ZAFT or LOGOS attacks ORB? Would you tell your men to stand down, telling them that they shouldn't kill to protect themselves? "

"I… I… would," Cagalli stuttered, trying to answer the questions unsuccessfully.

Both of them remained in an uneasy silence until Fllay finally broke it with a whisper. "The crushing guilt of having to kill them will help alleviate the pain" Few more water droplets splashed on the floor.

Cagalli could only blink in silence as she didn't understand what the other woman was talking about.

Still hanging her head, Fllay slowly brought her two hands in front of her face and began slowly, "All I want in life was to be happy. Even back then, I didn't really care whether I'll be rich or become famous. What mattered to me was that I wanted to be with the people who care about me" A drop landed on her left hand. "That would be enough. I don't want these wars. I'm scared of them. Even now…" Both her hands were shaking. "At that time I was scared. Scared as the proofs of my existence began to disappear one by one, right in front of my very eyes. I was scared and confused. Scared enough to turn on the very people that wanted to help me"

Her legs began to give away and Fllay ended up in a kneeling position. "I twisted his soul and fate with these very hands. I used him… even… even… though I fell in love in him. I love him… I love him very much, but yet I used him," she sobbed as torrents of tears came out unrestrained. "What kind of person would do such a thing? Why do I feel guilty even now? Why is it that the first thing I remember, even before I know my name is his face? His smile? Couldn't I just forget him as well?" She buried her face on her hands. "Why am I feeling hollow and empty all the time? Why? Why my heart still aches for him? Yearn for him even in my dream?"

Cagalli looked away as she realized that the person in front of her was suffering all the time, despite the façade she presented a few days ago. "I'm sorry"

With great difficulty, Fllay performed a hand signal and her head jerked backward. She put her hands on her head as she let out a small moan of pain. Concerned, Cagalli dropped to her level to see that Fllay's eyes returned to their normal smoky hue and her expression neutral, surprising the woman in front of her again. The Fallen's pilot then wiped her damp cheeks with her gloved hand. "I'm sorry for losing control of myself. It wasn't supposed to happen"

"No… no harm's done" Cagalli stuttered again, still not believing the sudden change in the other person's behavior.

Fllay got up. "As far as I'm concerned, Miss Attha, this conversation never took place. I'm never one to threaten other people, but it's best for this matter to be forgotten" She walked a few steps before continuing, "You're right about the vicious circle being never ending. Like I told you earlier, only people like you and Kira can stop it as you have dreams and hopes. But next time please don't talk as if we soldiers don't know anything. It already hurt for us to know our sins without someone else constantly reminding us about it" The door opened and Fllay exited, leaving a confused and conflicted Cagalli behind.

* * *

1

* * *

**Author's note** (16 November 2006)

1. At last! Fllay and Cagalli's final argument scene. Both would grow from this conversation with Fllay letting out her pent up emotions and Cagalli learning the fact that in live, things aren't categorized into black and white. Cagalli in GS and GSD, in my opinion, isn't really a good leader. Yes, she's a good person and a kind leader, but not a _good_ leader. The fact that she's there to stop ORB military from breaking their neutral stance is honorable (I really like that part), but she did it without understanding the fact that it did so under duress (A leader must always try to understand other people). When I watched the scene where Todoka died, I felt kinda sad. He died in order to protect ORB, the same goal Cagalli and Archangel was pursuing. The sad part is, he seemed to understand Cagalli's position, but not vice versa. So, do expect Cagalli to turn out a bit differently in this story as she finally understands what it is to be a good leader.


	37. The women in Kira's life

Fllay walked away from the room, wanting to clear her thoughts. What happened was something unexpected. She had lost control of herself. It was fortunate that it happened when she was with Cagalli. If it happened in front of Kira, then she wouldn't know what to do. Despite that, the fact remained that she had accidentally let Cagalli, his sister, know that she remembered him. Fllay still had trouble believing that such a spirited woman was Kira's twin sister, despite finding out about their relationship from Mirrillia by accident. They were so different.

To make things worse, she had accidentally triggered her APEX capabilities in the heat of the moment.

As she approached her room, she wondered whether Cagalli will tell Kira about her. It would be best that he didn't find out as then he will confront her about the matter. Fllay didn't know whether she could resist him any longer. Being near him was enough to drive her crazy with longing. Perhaps that's why she snapped when being interrogated by Cagalli. It was as if her mind was warning her that she was fast approaching the breaking point. If things remain as they were, Kira would certainly come to know about her, something she didn't want to happen.

Then Fllay's heart skipped a beat as an excruciating pain in her chest almost caused her to collapse.

Putting her right hand on her chest while her left hand was touching the wall for support, Fllay struggled to take a step forward as her sight began to haze. At the same time, Flaga's words were playing inside her mind.

"_Is it okay for you to be doing this?"_

The pain began to become more intense, causing her to pause.

"_Okay doing what?" Fllay asked, standing in front of his bed. Flaga or Lornoke as he called himself was still handcuffed to the bed, despite the apparently relaxed security in the room. She came to the room because Mirrillia told her that he wanted to have some private discussions with her. She looked around her. Despite knowing that there would be no way that Captain Murrue would allow the room to be bugged, Fllay checked the place nevertheless. _

"_Come on, I told you that I have read your files, Allster," Flaga said. "I remember that I told you about that"_

"_So what?"_

"_I know that your abilities and capabilities are beyond what your body can support"_

Fllay closed her eyes tightly and reopened them, trying to focus on her room, barely able to see its outline. Breathing softly but rapidly, she managed to take another step in front.

"_As you can see, I'm still okay," Fllay said. _

"_I saw the video of the battle between Freedom and Impulse, Allster. I saw how you piloted that Murasame. It was way beyond normal Coordinator's capabilities. In fact, I'm not sure if Yamato can do it, and he's rumored to be the Ultimate Coordinator. You used your APEX, didn't you?" he accused. _

"_Yes," Fllay answered simply._

Despite the stabbing pain she was in, she finally reached in front of her door. Her left hand moved slowly toward the security panel and began to enter the password to open the door.

"_You know damn well that you're not a real APEX carrier," Flaga said with an edge to his voice. _

"_I don't see where this is going to, Colonel" Fllay said calmly._

_Flaga growled. "Look, I admit that you're better than any APEX or SEED carrier" _

The panel emitted a long buzzer tone, telling Fllay that her password was wrong. Her shaking finger had pressed the keypads wrongly. She tried again.

"_Yes, I'll admit that you're fine now. That's because you're lucky. Your body is able to repair itself just in time. But mark my words! If you keep activating it indiscriminately, you'll die" _

"_Is that so?" she asked back. _

The second attempt also ended in a failure. Nevertheless, she kept on trying, praying that nobody saw her in that state.

"_Yes. Your body wouldn't keep up with the forced state. Eventually your body will fail because of it"_

Her room's door finally opened and Fllay entered her room, managing to take a few steps before crashing to the floor. Behind her, the door closed, as her body was engulfed in the room's darkness.

_Fllay was quiet for quite sometime before breaking into a bittersweet smile, surprising the man in front of her. "It's okay" she said. _

"_Hey, you're not really …"_

Despite still breathing, albeit erratically, there was no sign that she was conscious as the pain had claimed her.

"_I took the risk activating it to save Mr. Yamato. And you know what? I will keep doing it if I need to. I will take the risk of activating that ability even with the knowledge of what it will do to me eventually. I will do it, every single time"_

* * *

Cagalli sighed, her mind still in a mess. She had remained in the room for more than two hours since Fllay left, reexamining her beliefs and going through what she and the fallen pilot argued. In the end, she found that while she couldn't stomach what the other woman has said, she couldn't really discount them as wrong either. To make it worse, one of Fllay's statements has really bothered her.

"Is it wrong to be selfish?" she asked herself. Then she asked the question again, this time in her mind.

To Cagalli, that statement sounded so … so… wrong. Her father Nuzumi Nala Attha has instilled in her a very strong sense of selflessness. But even then, she could feel the question coming back to haunt her. Was it really bad to be a bit selfish sometimes? Would her relationship with Athrun turned out differently if she had rejected Jona's proposal to marry her? When the Seiran heir asked her hand in marriage, she accepted, telling herself that it for the good of ORB.

But then ORB joined the Alliance under the influence of Seiran House and its supporters. Not only that, it had even sent its own fleet to attack Minerva not only once, but twice. It was then the mobile suit and its pilot appeared to stop it. The fallen angel who had helped in massacring the fleet. It was then Cagalli cried since she had lost her father. She shed tears for the ORB soldiers who lost their life needlessly.

Fllay pointed out that Cagalli only shed tears for those from ORB while forgetting that there were those from ZAFT that died because of those two battles. She sought justice for the ORB soldiers Fllay has killed; she has forgotten about those who perished by their attack.

The young representative of ORB closed her eyes, willing the tears not to spill. Fllay was right. She had forgotten about them. Then, does it make her as selfish?

She really wished that her father was still alive, along with the original Council members. He would probably know what to do. Her? She was just a young adult who was unprepared for the burdens to be put on her shoulders. Her father always knew the right thing do in times like that.

"_Do you want to burn the country down, just like your father did?"_ The elder Seiran council member's voice echoed in her head.

Cagalli open her eyes in a realization.

Her father didn't know what he did was right or not; what he did was to do something that he _believed_ was right. Up to that time, there were still debates on whether Nuzumi Nala Attha's decision was correct or not. Perhaps the battle that ravaged ORB two years earlier wouldn't have taken place if Nuzumi surrendered the mass driver to the Alliance. But even then, there would always be supporters and detractors to that decision as well.

Lacus's words came back to her. _"First you decide, then you act on it"_

Suddenly, Cagalli felt all the pent up pressures and burden being washed away by the gentle wave of relief as she finally understood what her father did. All these while she had trying so hard to emulate her father and trying to do the 'right' thing. In doing so, she has forgotten the important lesson her father has imparted to her; there was no such thing, only thing that is believed to be right. She also realized that instead of trying to become measure up to her father, she had the responsibility to be true to herself.

The fact that someone, whom she called a killer, reminded her of those two things left a bitter taste in her mouth. She hated it when someone she didn't really like was right. But perhaps it was for the best, Cagalli reasoned to herself as she finally walked out of the room, resolving to apologize to Fllay later. Despite her shortcomings, Cagalli wasn't afraid to admit that she might be wrong.

"Here you are, sister," Kira said, startling her.

"Cagalli," she insisted. "Calling me sister would make me seem younger than you"

"Okay, Cagalli," Kira said, smiling to placate her. He then noticed her disheveled look. "Um…"

Cagalli looked down and patted her uniform. "That room was so dirty that I had to clean it," she lied. "Honestly, to have such a filthy ship"

Kira gave her a small questioning look. Domestic cleaning wasn't really his sister's forte.

The look didn't go unnoticed. "So, why are you searching for me?" Cagalli said in order to distract him.

"Oh, I wanted to tell you that the ship is going to arrive at our underwater base tomorrow morning"

"Thank you"

Kira's expression changed into a slightly concerned one. "Kisaka is waiting for you. Seems like he want to discuss with you about something in private"

The representative of ORB nodded. Kisaka was her father's closest aide whom she had not seen for quite some time. "Did he say about what?"

"No. But I imagine it's something serious"

"Probably" She knew that it has something to do with the current tension over EAF's attack on the ZAFT's Carpenteria Base, but she couldn't imagine why Kisaka would discussing about that unless it has something to do with ORB. Then her eyes widened.

"Cagalli?" Kira questioned.

"Oh, I guess we'll only find out after we docked, right?" Cagalli said quickly, trying to push the thought that was plaguing her. It was a very scary thought, one that she didn't want to even consider. "Let's go. I'm quite famished and would like to kill an unfortunate burger," she said while walking away.

Kira quickly followed her.

After a few minutes walking, another thought crossed her mind, causing Cagalli to steal a peak at her brother "Kira?"

"Hm?" her brother asked backed.

"Let's say I wronged you. Would you forgive me?"

"Sure" Kira said while chuckling. "I do it on everyday basis"

"No. I don't mean like that," Cagalli retorted.

"Then, what do you mean?"

"Well, let's say you and I don't know that we're siblings… And I did something to hurt you" Cagalli had to shake her head to clear the images of Fllay crying out of her mind. "Something very bad. Would you still forgive me?"

Kira was quiet for a few moments. "That's a rather strange question you have there, Cagalli. Is there something else you want to tell me? Something that I should know of?"

"No," Cagalli answered hurriedly.

"Then, I can't answer your question"

"Never mind, then" Still maintaining her pace, Cagalli asked again, "Kira, is it okay for us to be selfish? I mean, is it okay to think about our own need rather than about other people?"

"I don't know," Kira answered simply while shrugging.

"Why don't you? You should know!"

Kira shrugged and said, "I can't teleport you to Bahamas either, Cagalli"

Cagalli merely blinked in confusion at that statement. Meanwhile, Kira was looking in another direction, wondering why he felt that something bad had happened.

* * *

Andrew glanced at the man beside him as they floated toward the meeting room. He still had trouble believing that the man was the captain of the infamous Cherubim. The man seemed so bland, he thought to himself. The one-eyed war veteran had expected someone more charismatic. But judging from the way the Cherubim's own crew treated him, he was anything but charismatic.

"So, what is on the mind of the famous Desert Tiger right now?" Barzhakov asked. Before Andrew could answer, the captain yawned, making it look like as if he wasn't really interested in the answer. "Sorry, my body clock not adjusting yet"

"If you want, I can fix for you a nice cup of espresso before we begin the discussion"

"No thanks. Drinking coffee is not my cup of tea, if you get what I mean"

Andrew let out a forced laugh at the joke as they continued to float along corridor. The man next to him couldn't possibly be Cherubim's Captain. However, Andrew didn't voice out his thought and kept quiet until they finally reached the meeting room where Lacus was waiting for them.

"Welcome to Terminal," Lacus said while smiling toward Barzhakov. "I'm pleased to meet you," she said as she offered her hand.

Barzhakov took the hand and shook it. "Please to meet you too, Miss Clyne"

"Please, call me Lacus"

"Call me Barzhakov then. I just wish our first meeting would be in a better circumstance than this"

"Me too," Lacus said while nodding. She turned toward Andrew, "So, shall we start?"

Andrew moved to a computer terminal and pressed some buttons. "We believe that Dullindal…"

Barzhakov held his hand up, stopping Andrew in the middle of his sentence. "I'm sorry to interrupt… Mr. Bartfeld, but we already know about what's being planned by him. What I and those ass sucking idiots at Moscow would like to know is what Miss Clyne proposes we do about ORB"

Lacus and Andrew shared a confused look. "ORB?" Lacus asked.

"There's a seventy percent chance that ORB's home fleet will be mobilized to augment the LOGOS's defense," Barzhakov said while moving toward a map of PLANTs"

"Seventy percent?" Andrew asked incredulously.

"Sixty eight point four something something, according to the simulation ran through by the Eurasian Intelligence Office, but my ship's crew bet it happening at the odds of five to two"

"I'm not aware of this," Lacus said quietly.

"Its parliament is still discussing about the matter, so there's no official statement yet. But I believe they will reach the decision in less than two days. I'm sure that if Archangel has arrived at the country, the Representative has been briefed about this"

Lacus looked at the display in the middle of the room as it displayed ORB's current capabilities. Despite being a small country, ORB's direct participation in the fight between LOGOS and ZAFT may cause the balance of power to swing toward LOGOS; something Lacus would like to prevent. Despite suffering heavy loss during the battle at Crete, the nation had managed to rebuild its fleet in just a few months. In fact, its size has been enlarged. "This doesn't look good," she admitted.

"Since the Project Point Zero is almost completed, maybe we'll get to see its debut in the upcoming battle"

Lacus was quiet while Andrew narrowed his eye and asked, "How do you know about that? Even Cagalli wasn't aware of that. Only people close to Nuzumi knew about it"

Barzhakov grinned predatorily. "Hmm? So, how do you know about it then? Did you spy on your own friends?"

"You have no right to be accusing us of such thing" Andrew growled. Meanwhile, Lacus looked away guiltily.

"I think you're missing the point here, Tiger. That's why you lost the battle in the Gobi during the first war"

"Do tell me which point I'm missing, then" Andrew said through gritted teeth.

"The point is that the secret is not a secret. I don't care about what method you use to obtain the information; what is important is the fact that you know about it"

Lacus turned her attention toward the conversation. "You're saying that it's no longer a secret?"

"Yes, to some degree though. The Seiran clowns are still trying to find out the exact location of the lab, as with everyone in the world. Once they get their hands on it, well, I don't really want to imagine that. But I believe the Representative Attha's bodyguard may know where it is though" Barzhakov turned toward Andrew. "By the way, Tiger, your raid was repulsed easily because someone blabbed about it. Very expensive liquor, very beautiful women and very large amount of money have that effect of loosing few people's tongue, if you know what I mean"

"If I get my hand on that bastard…"

"Don't bother. We retired them afterwards when Patrick's hounds began sniffing around" Barzhakov said while waving his hand dismissively.

Andrew found himself having to reevaluate the man in front of him. Barzhakov's earlier demeanor had misled him into thinking that the Cherubim's Captain was just an old fool. Now thinking about it, Barzhakov seemed to fit the profile of the Eurasian Commander that almost outflanked his army in the battle in the Gobi Desert.

As if knowing what was on Andrew's mind, Barzhakov said, "Well, it was just a lucky gambit. Your forces nearly overrun my base at that time" Before Andrew could say something, he continued, "So, back to the question, Lacus. What are we going to do about ORB?"

The Clyne heiress was quiet for a very long time as she thought about it. Meanwhile both Barzhakov and Andrew were also quiet as they were thinking about the same thing. Finally, Lacus broke the silence. "It seems that there's only one way that I can think of"

"My thought exactly," Barzhakov agreed. "Now the problem is this: Attha must make that decision; failing which the Eurasian will make it for her"

"You must be joking!" Andrew uttered, fully understanding what was being said.

"If you think that we're going to let ORB help LOGOS, then you must be kidding," the Cherubim's captain countered while grinning. "And unlike North Atlantic, we wouldn't even think off wasting our time and energy to move a drop fleet to above the South China Sea just to pull a big practical joke"

"Why Eurasian Confederation is going to several lengths to do this?" Lacus asked. "It could have just let ORB help LOGOS. Does it mean that it's going to support ZAFT?"

"No, but we rather help Dullindal rather than Djibril. Despite being in the same league, the Chairman is, how do we say this, more mindful and cautious at attacking civilian targets"

Andrew felt that something was not right with Barzhakov stated. Eurasian military wasn't known to be that passionate at protecting civilians. Nevertheless he kept quiet.

Barzhakov put his hands behind his back and continued. "Of course, the main reason why the Eurasian is going to help defeat LOGOS is political mileage we'll gain from doing so"

"So you can claim to the public: 'See? We weren't involved in the massacre in Berlin and other cities. It was LOGOS and now we're avenging all of you by helping ZAFT defeat LOGOS'. Is that it?" Andrew asked sarcastically.

Barzhakov laughed. "I don't care about politics but it seemed that you have a natural flair for it. If you want, I can introduce you to certain people"

"I'd rather die choking on my puke"

"I believe we must call Cagalli about this immediately," Lacus said, interrupting the banter between the two men.

"So you're going to risk a call?" Barzhakov asked.

"This matter is of outmost importance"

"Say, in that case, can I join you as well? I would like to speak to Fallen's pilot"

"Fallen's pilot?" Andrew asked. He had forgotten about her being onboard. Perhaps he would have the opportunity to see her face.

"Yes, the Allster girl," Barzhakov said.

"Al… Alls…Allster?" Lacus stammered. Her mind was racing, trying to think of any girl named Allster. Anyone that she should have known of, or have missed. Anyone, besides _her_.

"Oh, sorry." Barzhakov apologized. "I forgot that you know Fllay"

He didn't notice that the room was suddenly engulfed by ice-cold tension.

* * *

Cagalli looked at the report in her hands as horror etched itself on her face. It was fortunate that she was seated when Kisaka handed it to her to read. "How can they do this?" she asked.

"You do know that some of our Houses are actually revealed as LOGOS members or supporters"

"Yes, but they can't just sent out the fleet like that," Cagalli countered.

"According to our sources, the official reason that will be given is that we're going to oppose the Destiny Plan that will be revealed by Dullindal"

"Destiny Plan?" Cagalli felt that her day was going to be ruined big time. "Tell me about this 'Destiny Plan'" she sighed.

In response, Kisaka handed another classified file to her. As Cagalli skimmed through its content, Kisaka explained, "Dullindal plans to end all hostilities between the Coordinators and Naturals by introducing a new social system"

Cagalli's eyes stopped at a particular page. "The social classification would be determined at birth, based on genetics?"

"It seems so"

She slammed the file on the floor. "This is preposterous! This is not a new social system; this is a new caste system that's based on genes!" She stood up, anger evident on her face as she shouted, "I'll never agree to this!" Breathing slowly to calm herself, she asked, "Is this information verified? I mean this could be a trap by LOGOS"

"It's verified. We got the evidences from the abandoned Mendel Colony"

"Do other nations know about this?"

"We don't think so, not even Terminal. We only found out about the plan just two days ago. Even most of the parliament members didn't know the actual details about the Destiny Plan as the Seiran House is using it as a bargaining chip to get them to agree to send out the fleet"

"Jona, you bastard!" Cagalli muttered under her breath.

Kisaka didn't show any reaction to Cagalli's comment as he continued on, "However, the plans will be revealed to the world when the fleet starts to sail to the Azores"

Cagalli sat down. "If we reveal about the plan earlier, rather waiting for Dullindal, it would have a different psychological impact on the world, right?"

"Yes"

"We will be able to expose Dullindal as the person he really is; a great manipulator. But doing that will cause ZAFT to lose the trust of the Earth sphere. The people will support LOGOS; the conglomerate that has been the root of the wars that plagued our world. Either way, it would be a very hard choice to make"

"CALLING FOR REPRESENTATIVE ATTHA" Mirrillia's voice echoed through the PA system. "PLEASE COME TO THE BRIDGE"

The representative looked at her bodyguard who nodded and went to the communication panel. Seconds later, Mirrillia's image appeared on the small panel screen. "She's in a middle of a meeting. Is it important?"

"Terminal is trying to establish a secure connection," Mirrillia said.

"Very well, then she'll get there as soon as possible" Kisaka said as he terminated the communication with the bridge. Then he turned to Cagalli. "It seems that Miss Lacus has found out about what our parliament is planning to do"

Cagalli got up slowly from her seat. "For the first time in my life, I'm actually dreading to speak to Lacus"

* * *

1

* * *

**Author's note (8 December 2006)**

1. Sorry for taking my sweet time in updating, but I'm really busy right now, stationed in a somewhat remote place and having to juggle between my work and my study.

2. You know, human mind is kinda interesting, having the ability to link from an idea to an idea. I mean, just two days ago I was wondering on how to to do wrap up this chapter. Then I reread the reviews and got an idea. But that idea leads to another idea which leads to the ideas used in this chapter. The original idea didn't get used but it spawned other ideas.

3. I'm experimenting a bit on the formatting for this chapter and I hope it comes out all right. If not, well, sorry then.


	38. Cagalli's decision

Cagalli looked at the people assembled around her. Kira, who was strangely quiet and distracted, kept looking in the direction a wall. Meanwhile, Kisaka was talking to Murrue, with the latter informing him of the ship's encounters. Amagi and the pilot named Vince was also talking, probably swapping their respective stories. Everyone was already there, except for _her. _The blonde representative wondered where Fllay was. She had searched for the Fallen Angel to have clear up some things and probably apologized for any bad blood between the two of them, but didn't find her. Besides her, there was another one who had searched for her. Kira. When she went to talk to him, the first thing he did was to ask whether she had seen the redhead around. When she thought about it, Kira seemed a bit concerned about his former lover. She mentally cringed at the thought that Lacus, Kira's current lover would see his previous one standing beside him when they open the communication link between Terminal and Archangel. .

Then the door to the room opened and she turned toward it. From the corner of her eyes, she also saw Kira did the same. To her relief and disappointment, only the pilot she identified as Jackson entered the room.

The sentiments were also felt by Kira as he looked at Jackson approaching him. Despite not sure that he wanted Lacus to know that Fllay was alive, he somehow had a gnawing feeling in his heart about Fllay. His instinct was telling him to go to her room to check up on her, but he wasn't sure whether that was the right thing to do. After all, he already had Lacus, right? Somehow that reassurance didn't seem to work. "Where's Fllay?" he asked when Jackson was next to him.

"Oh, she was training. Since she was busy, she asked me to relay any message to her"

Somehow, Kira's gut was screaming to him that Jackson was lying and demanded to check up on her himself. "Funny, I just came from the hangar just now. I should have met her there"

Jackson gave him a calculating glaze, all the while rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "She's training in her room, using the simulator software"

"Oh, I forgot about that. Sorry" Despite apologizing, Kira's expression was showing otherwise.

"I didn't know you and Fllay have gotten to the first name basis already," Jackson said while smirking.

The comment caught Kira off guard. The rather innocent comment was actually a challenge for him to prove that what Jackson said was wrong. In order to do that, Kira also had to prove that he knew Fllay personally. Therein lay the problem. He knew her very well; he was her lover in the first war. But that wasn't enough for him to enter her room and demand to know what's going on, not when she didn't remember him. Besides, he already had Lacus. Not knowing what to say, he kept quiet.

Jackson waited for any respond from the man in front of him, and when it seemed that none was forthcoming, he merely laughed and slapped the other man's back heartily. "Seems like you're not him"

Kira raised his eyebrows questioningly. "Him?"

"The man who ruined her"

The brown haired Coordinator's eyes widened, but the man next to him missed it as he was looking at the main screen. "Ruined her?"

"Opps, sorry. That sounds a bit perverted. "What I meant is that someone who ruined her ability to love anyone else" Jackson shrugged. "Kinda makes me wish that I'm that man"

Everything began to click into place for Kira. The dream he thought he had when he was rescued, what Mirrillia said about Fllay ruining herself, the part about Fllaga telling him that Fllay couldn't detect him; everything, even what his heart was telling him. It was as he had suspected and hoped. Fllay had remembered him. But before the seed of relief began to take root, it was stomped by the feeling of betrayal.

At the Terminal's headquarters, Lacus heaved a deep breath as she pressed the button that will establish the link between Terminal and Archangel. Immediately, she was greeted by the sight of those she recognized and those that she didn't know. But she couldn't see Fllay among them. Knowing that it was inappropriate to be thinking about the woman, she quickly focused at the matters on hand. "I'm sorry about this sudden communication, but it's about…"

"ORB PARLIAMENT DECIDING TO SEND ITS FLEET TO AZORES," Cagalli finished for her. Her head moved to look at Barzhakov. "IT IS A SURPRISE SO SEE YOU THERE, GRANDPA," she said, the intended insult evident.

Barzhakov laughed. "It's so that I can take the higher moral ground," he joked while his eyes roved around the screen, trying to search for Fllay. Instead, he saw Jackson, whose left hand's palm was facing down. Barzhakov shook his head a little. It seemed that she had pushed herself too much as usual. "So, did my pilot give you any trouble?" he asked Cagalli, clearly referring to Fllay.

"NO. IN FACT SHE HAD BEEN VERY HELPFUL," Cagalli said.

From the screen, the Cherubim's captain could see that Kira was showing some kind of a reaction when Cagalli said that. He looked at Lacus from the corner of his eyes and saw that the Clyne heiress was behaving somewhat strangely. Barzhakov had lived long enough to know that she was not really paying attention to the conversation, despite her calm demeanor. "So, Miss Lacus, would you tell your friend here how serious the situation is?"

"WE'RE QUITE AWARE OF THE SITUATION. BUT WHATEVER STEP WE AT ORB TAKE, IT MAY LEAD TO THE DESTRUCTION OF THE WORLD" Cagalli interrupted.

"What do you mean?" Lacus asked.

Cagalli, with the help of Kisaka proceeded to tell everyone of what Gilbert was planning to do with the whole of the Earthsphere. After they had finished, everyone was quiet for a moment until she said, "AS YOU CAN SEE CLEARLY SEE, WHATEVER WE DO WILL BRING TROUBLE LATER ON"

"So, if we wait like idiots, trouble wouldn't come our way, is that what you're trying to say?" Barzhakov asked. His question was rewarded with a hostile glare from the blonde representative.

Then Cagalli's expression suddenly changed into a neutral one, yet still maintaining her seriousness. "WHAT I WAS SAYING IS THAT WE'RE GOING TO EXPERIENCE A TURBULENT TIME AHEAD, THAT'S ALL. AS FOR ORB, DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT AS I'LL DO WHAT I FEEL IS RIGHT, WHICH MAY INCLUDE REPULSING ANY EURASIAN INVADER"

"Ho? So you do know about it" Barzhakov said while chuckling. "Suddenly you have become more interesting,"

Standing beside him, Lacus wondered about her friend's change. Despite the fact that Cagalli was a woman with a very strong conviction, she had became rather mellowed after taking over ORB's administration from her father, relegating many tasks and power to Seiran and other nobilities. There's also the fact that she capitulated under the pressure of Earth Alliance, which is why ORB entered the fight against ZAFT. Lacus hated to say it, but Cagalli had essentially become ORB's puppet leader, with Seiran house ruling from behind the scene. However, the Cagalli that was standing in front of her was different from what she was then, with determination clearly evident in her eyes. Lacus wondered what had happened that caused the change. "Very well, we'll leave it in your hands"

"THANK YOU," Cagalli said while smiling. "YOU DON'T KNOW HOW MUCH THAT MEANS TO ME"

"On our side, we'll think about what to do about Gilbert's plan"

Barzhakov looked at Jackson. "By the way, tell her that NOVA is almost ready and we would like to do some calibrations, so tell her to get back here on the double"

Jackson gave a half hearted salute.

"Murrue," the Cherubim captain said, "I know that Lady Cagalli would prefer that we leave our Murasames behind, so can you arrange for a shuttle?"

"I'LL DO THAT," Murrue said while crossing her arms. She still didn't like and trust her former mentor.

Barzhakov nodded and turned toward Lacus, telling her that he was done.

Lacus looked at Andrew who shrugged, showing that he had nothing to add. She then turned toward the screen, focusing her attention on Kira, wondering what caused him to be quiet throughout the whole communication. Granted, the communication was supposed to be serious, so it was improper to be them to be talking to each other personally. But he could have greeted her at least. "All right, we'll contact you if anything comes up,"

"WE'LL DO THAT AS WELL," Cagalli said before terminating the link.

"That's quite a fruitful meeting," Barzhakov commented as he turned toward Andrew and Lacus.

"By the, Captain, what do you mean by NOVA?" Lacus asked the person next to her.

"Your group's techies aren't the only one who's busy," Barzhakov said.

"It must be a very impressive mobile suit," Andrew remarked.

Barzhakov shook his head. "Not at all. We noticed that ZAFT, Terminal and LOGOS are designing highly powerful and advanced mobile suits that could fight a lot of enemies at the same time. Since we're a bit cash-strapped, we decided that trying to follow the same would be very difficult"

"So?" Andrew asked. Strike Freedom, the successor to Freedom was designed to be one of the most powerful mobile suits ever, armed with advance weaponries. But the way the man in front of him talking, it was as if Cherubim or perhaps the Eurasian Federation had come up with something that could counter it.

"So far so good," Barzhakov said, answering the question while not really answering it.

* * *

Elation couldn't even begin to describe what Jona Roma Seiran was feeling as he looked at the assembled members of ORB Parliament sitting in front of him. He had suffered numerous setbacks to his plan to preside over the nation. From the wedding between him and Cagalli to the battle in Crete, the damned Archangel and Yamato kid were always in the way. But with the resolution to send ORB's military force to Azores Islands going to be passed in one hour, he could almost see that nothing could stop him, not even Archangel, not even Cagalli herself as they would be branded as traitors to the nation. Once the ORB citizens found out about the Destiny Plan, they would certainly support the parliament's decision. In fact, they would beg and grovel at his feet for him to lead them. 

Of course, he will humbly accept the responsibility for the sake of the nation's sovereignty.

Jona had to stifle an urge to smile at that thought. He would rule ORB and at the same receive a very large reward from Djibril for helping him defeat Gilbert. _Life couldn't get better than that_, he thought to himself as he shared a look with his father, Unato Ema Seiran. The victory would be much sweeter if he can find out the exact location of the so-much coveted Project Point Zero.

Earlier that week, he had managed to locate and capture a technical base that was assembling something like an add-on module for a mobile suit. The module, specified in the obtained documents as 'R-02 Uzume' was a rescue module. It was light and aerodynamically designed, probably to be carried by an airborne mobile suit such as Astray or Murasame. However, the compatibility and high power draw problems suggested that it wasn't designed for those two models. That led Jona to conclude that the mobile suit that would eventually carry it, the Project Point Zero should have been completed.

He suddenly remembered about his closest aide brief him that morning regarding its possible location and decided to take a look at it after the parliament session.

"But wouldn't doing this will cause a problem for this country? After all, we're going to be supporting LOGOS," a member of the parliament said, expressing his concern.

"Don't worry about that," Jona said. "I can guarantee that once you see what I know about, you will agree that what we're doing is in the best interest of the nation" Actually, the man asking the question, as well as the rest of the parliament had basically agreed to support him. The questioning and answering session was actually being recorded and would be broadcasted to the public along with the parliament's decision to send its military force to the Azores Islands. It would give the general public the illusion that the ORB Parliament was being independent. "I would have revealed the reason to you now, but I really think that we must show to the public as well. After all, we're just the representatives of the people. Don't worry, when the resolution is passed, we will broadcast it" Jona said while smiling, clearly relishing his act. "I talked to Representative Attha and she basically agreed to it. In fact, she was the one who suggested the idea in the first place"

Ever since Cagalli disappeared, taken away by Freedom, the Seiran family, along with the parliament members spread the story that she was involved in a serious accident and had to recuperate in the hospital. They even forged her signatures to sign declarations to temporarily give Jona the power to make decisions on her behalf until she recover.

"So, does anyone else have any questions? I'll be more than happy to answer them" He looked around. "No? Then we will proceed to discussing details regarding the Bill"

Suddenly the door to the room opened and Cagalli walked in, accompanied by few soldiers. "Not if I have something to say about it," she said.

Shock would be an understatement to what Jona was feeling at that moment. According to his sources, she shouldn't be there as Archangel was supposed to be in Atlantic Ocean. Nevertheless, he put on a cheery smile and walked toward her with open arms. "Cagalli! You're safe! Everyone here has been praying for your safety every day since we lost contact with you"

Cagalli, dressed in her white uniform raised her eyes to look at him. "I have a hard time swallowing that, since I remember very well that you're the one who ordered the ORB army to attack my mobile suit. Furthermore, you led them to attack Minerva!"

"But I don't know that it was you in there!"

The elder Seiran looked at his son and then at Cagalli, saying, "Besides, Lady Cagalli, unless you have forgotten, we were forced to participate in the attack. Or would you rather have the country burn down just like your father did?" Mentioning late Nuzumi and what he did always had a desired effect on his daughter and the Seiran elder didn't mind exploiting the knowledge it to the maximum.

"So, you're going to send our army to help LOGOS because they threaten to burn ORB?" Cagalli calmly asked back. "Or do you plan to send our people to their death just so that you can fill your coffer with the money you get from Djibril"

"No!" Jona insisted. "It's for the sake of this country. It's for the sake of the world, I tell you! Gilbert is going to introduce…"

"Destiny Plan," Cagalli finished the sentence for him. More troops entered the room and quickly moved to each of the parliament members' side, placing them under arrest. "The plan where Gilbert will usurp everyone's freedom under the banner of peace"

Jona, who had each of his shoulder held by a soldier, couldn't conceal his surprise "How? How do you know?"

"I'm not that stupid," Cagalli said. She then walked up to him. "While I agree the fact that Gilbert's plan must be stopped, I can't see how working with someone who's bent on killing everyone who oppose him will achieve that"

"What do you mean?"

"This" Cagalli said as a video began playing on a make shift screen, showing Jona talking to someone on a phone.

"WHAT WILL I GET FROM THIS DEAL?" the Jona on the screen asked.

"HEH? WHAT DO YOU WANT THAT I CAN'T GIVE?" a voice, despite the noise present, clearly belonged to Djibril. "HOW ABOUT OCEANIA UNION, AFTER I'M DONE WITH IT?"

"THAT SOUNDS INTERESTING"

"JUST MAKE SURE THAT YOU GIVE ME THE THING THAT WILL TURN THE REST OF THE WORLD ON GILBERT"

"OF COURSE, YOU CAN COUNT ON ME"

The video ended and Cagalli who was also watching the video turned toward Jona. "Of course, conspiring with our enemy is very serious offense" She then continued, "And the rest of you don't think that you can plead idiocy. All of you will be charge with collusion as you knowingly and willingly conspire to violate our constitution. Not only that, I also have ample evidence to show that each one of you have received some 'incentives' from Seiran House to pass this bill. But we'll let our justice system judge you. Until then, all of you are relieved of your position" She then said to Jona and Unato, "It's over"

Jona, who couldn't believe that his plan had gone up in smoke struggled against his arrestors. As they were unprepared for his sudden action, Jona managed to break free and lunged toward Cagalli, fist at ready while shouting, "DAMN YOU, ATTHA! IF YOU HADN'T THE SUPPORT OF THESE DOGS, YOU WOULD…"

A well placed punch to Jona's face sent him sprawling to the floor.

"Still be able to defeat a scum you with one hand behind my back," Cagalli said to the unconscious Jona. "And that's why I have to stop you. You see, Jona, these people you insulted, they're what makes up ORB; they are ORB. For you to forget about that, you really don't deserve to represent them" She then addressed the soldiers who moved to retake him into custody. "Get him out of my sight"

"Yes, ma'am," one of the soldiers said before he and his partner brought him out of the room.

She then turned toward the rest of the soldiers and said, "And hold the rest of his accomplices here for questioning" Cagalli then walked out of the parliament room. Once she was out of the room, she stopped and sighed. "First you decide and then you follow through, is it?" she muttered gloomily while looking down. "How come it's not as easy as you said, Lacus?"

"I'm sorry that you had to do this," Kisaka's voice caused her to raise her head. "It must be hard to you"

"I'm okay. After all, it's for the best interest of ORB," she replied. She then walked together with Kisaka. "What should I do with the parliament?"

"I know you want to hold an election to select new representatives, but it's not really an appropriate time to do so. But what you can do now is to go and explain to the people what had happened and show evidences supporting your action. I've prepared for a public broadcast scheduled in thirty minutes' time"

"Thank you, Kisaka. You're really a live saver"

"But is it okay to leave things the way they are here?" Kisaka asked.

"What do you mean?"

"You mentioned about Destiny Plan in front of those soldiers. It wouldn't be a problem if it's the royal Emirates Guards as their loyalty isn't questionable…"

"It's okay," Cagalli said while waving her hand casually.

A few hours later, on Azores Island, an angry scream came from Djibril's suite, followed by a loud crashing sound. Seated on his plush sofa, Djibril ignored the broken television screen and the glass fragments scattered in front of it as he tried to think about the whole situation at hand. Earlier on, he had found out from the television that Attha had assumed total control of the ORB government, and in a moment of rage, had thrown the bottle of wine he was holding at it. The fact that one of his allies in ORB was arrested didn't bode well for him. While he didn't really care about the Seirans, he wanted the ORB's fleet to join in the defense of the Azores Islands them so that he would be able to use it as shield against the predicted ZAFT's counterattack.

Also, he also wanted to acquire the ORB's rumored prototype to complement LOGOS's own three units.

The head of the LOGOS got up and walked to the wine cabinet to get him another glass and another bottle of wine. Even without ORB's help, LOGOS will emerge victorious and he'll personally led the hunt for Gilbert head.

At the same time, the said man was studying the situation in ORB with a frown on his face. Gilbert realized the fact that ORB wouldn't send its fleet to support LOGOS would make it hard for ZAFT to attack it; not without a very good pretext to do so as it would certainly affect the Earth' opinion regarding ZAFT. To make things worse, ORB knew about his Destiny Plan.

Gilbert took a deep breath.

That Attha was becoming more and more annoying, he thought to himself. The fact that she purposely let the fact about Destiny Plan leaked out while not making any public announcement regarding it had made it hard for him to think of an effective way to counter it. Already, he had received inquiries from concerned coalition partners and had to spend a lot of time convincing them of he wasn't planning such thing. Attha's ploy had forced him to rethink of his approach. If he had to, he will delay the plan until _it_ was ready. Then, it wouldn't matter what Earth Alliance, LOGOS, ORB or anyone was planning; he will force peace down their throat.

It would be three more moves until checkmate.

* * *

1

* * *

**Author's note (23 December 2006) **

1. I have gone through the chapter a few times, but I may miss some errors here and there (as usual). I hope they'll not detract the story's clarity. Currently I'm a busy man and it looks as if it would remain that way until next year. I may take time to reply to this and the preceding chapter's reviews so I hope you people will understand.

2. Jona's bastardness is insipired by ShadowCell's Fairy Tale Endings. In that story, which is quite dark as the villain won in the end. Anyway, Jona seemed to be a respectable villain in the beginning, although he ended up being a… I don't really have a suitable term for it. Sorry. Anyway, although it would be fun to cast him in that… role, I don't think it really suits a political situation. If you can find any someone acting similar to Jona (being girly-girly) ruling over a powerful country in the world (real world), please share it with me and I'll gladly rewrite this chapter.

* * *


	39. Special Group Theta

Kira blinked as he looked at the door. Out of all the places he could have gone to, he went there.

"Are you going to visit the prisone… err… I mean Colonel Fllaga?" a voice asked, bringing him out of his confusion.

"Er… yes," Kira said.

The guard entered the password for the door before he and his partner stepped away to allow Kira entry. When he entered the room, he saw that the colonel was typing on the laptop he loaned earlier on. The blonde man looked up and gave a small grin. "Yo!" before turning his attention back to the computer.

Kira merely raised his hand and got himself a seat, wondering what possessed him to visit Mwu. After all 'Colonel Neo Lornoke' didn't strike him as the person to talk to about the problem that he was having. How could he tell the person who considered him as an enemy combatant about his inner conflict? While he knew that the man in front of him was Mwu, the man that helped him cope with the conflicts he felt in the previous war, the man himself didn't know that. So, not knowing what to say to him and not really wanting to go anywhere, Kira just stood there silently while thinking about his problem.

The silence continued for a few minutes until Mwu sighed. He switched off the computer and closed it before turning toward Kira. "Look, kid, you're giving me the creeps," he growled. "Stop that"

"Huh?" Kira responded, not understanding why Mwu suddenly said that.

"You sat there, staring at me all this while with that hungry look on your face and breathing heavily all the time"

"Staring at you with a hungry look on my face?" Kira asked incredulously. "What do you mean breathing heavily?"

Mwu pointed toward a camera near a corner of the room. "Check it from the video feeds if you don't believe me"

"About my breathing, I was just sighing…"

"I'm straight. Don't forget that"

Kira's eyes widened as Mwu's implication hit him hard. "I'm also…"

"While you're… what's the Japanese term for it… oh… a 'Bishounen', I'm only interested in members of the fairer sex. Any attempt to rape me will be resisted with force" Despite being tied up, Mwu fisted his hands. "I can still fight you with these"

"Will you stop that?" Kira said nearly shouted, getting up from his seat. "I wasn't thinking of raping you in the first place!"

"Oh?" a smile appeared on Mwu's face. "What were you thinking about, then?" Since he wasn't getting any answer, he added, "Seducing me wouldn't work too, not unless you're a woman"

"MWU!" Kira protested.

"So, what's on your mind?" Mwu prodded.

Kira sat down. "Fllay," he said, summarizing and condensing his thoughts into a single name.

"As in stripping the skin off? Or do you mean 'play'?"

"No. Fllay Allster"

"Oh, okay" Mwu was quiet for a few seconds. "What about her?"

"I have reasons to believe that she remembered me"

"I'm sorry, kid, but you'll have to be more specific"

"What I mean is that she acts as if she doesn't remember me and the past we shared"

"What's she to you?" Mwu asked.

"I know that she's…," Kira struggled for the correct word, "… a special person to me"

"Both of you were lovers"

An image of a sad-looking Lacus came unbidden into Kira's mind, setting off uneasy feelings in his heart. "No, but we were… intimate"

Mwu narrowed his eyebrows. "You merely slept with her. So why are you bothered by the fact that she didn't remember you? I know that Allster's quite gorgeous, but I don't think that you need her to remember that you screwed her"

Kira shook his head. "No, it's not that"

"Then what's the worry? You told me that you're weren't lovers but merely bedmates. Unless you're thinking of continuing…"

"No, I don't"

Mwu sighed again. "If she's not that important to you, then I suggest that you wait and do nothing"

Doing nothing regarding Fllay wasn't on Kira's list. Realizing that Mwu seemed to know about Fllay more than he was supposed to, Kira asked, "How do you know about her so much?"

"She was supposed to enter Phantom Pain and be placed under my command when she was kidnapped"

Kira shook his head. 81st Independent Mobile Battalion, the dark horse of Earth Alliance, no, LOGOS. Even though he knew that Mwu led his own section under the battalion, it still pains him to think that a man with high principle like Mwu was manipulated into committing genocide.

The colonel continued, "At that time, the facility housing her was attacked. We thought that it was done by ZAFT but eventually we found evidence that support the theory that Spetsgruppa Theta was behind the attack. Kinda unbelievable, since it was supposed to have perished in the previous war"

"Spetsgruppa of the OSNAZ? The special military branch of Eurasian military?" Kira asked. OSNAZ, or Osobogo Naznacheniya, loosely translated as 'Special Purpose' was a detachment of the Eurasian Federation's military. Publicly known but always been shrouded in a veil of mystery, it was thought as one of the perpetrators responsible for the Tragedy of Copernicus, besides Phantom Pain, Patrick Zala's sympathizers and many more. Kira heard that they were among the defenders of the JOSH-A in the first war and were wiped out when the Atlantic Federation overloaded the CYCLOPS array beneath the base. Whether the news was true or not was unconfirmed because there was no OSNAZ headquarters as the various groups were formed within the various directorates as needed.

"Yup, Phantom Pain's dedicated but resource-challenged rival. But unlike us, it has Coordinators among its ranks though"

"But what happened then?"

"Can't you put two and two together? Didn't they say that one of the Black Freedom's packs was named Gamma?"

"She's one of them…" Kira trailed. "She keeps a lot from me, from everybody" he said, disappointment evident.

"For a mere bed playmate, you sound pretty possessive," Mwu remarked. "Look, if she's trying hard enough to pretend not to know you, then she must have a pretty good for doing so. Let me give you an example. Remember the Impulse pilot that owned you?"

Kira winced at the memory.

"Well, you see, one of our Extended pilots went into ZAFT's territory and was captured. So, I don't what went in the boy's head, but he returned the pilot to me while asking me to promise him that I'll never let her into any battlefield, ever"

"And you didn't?"

"There's no way I'm going to keep the promise in the first place as doing so will cause my superiors to kill her on spot. In fact, in a twisted kind of way, that boy delivered her to her own death. But even as I receive her from him, I didn't tell him about that"

"Why didn't you?"

Mwu shrugged. "Oh, he found out about in the end, when it was already too late"

"What happened?"

"From what I heard, after you shot me down, the pilot thought that you killed me. Despite the Impulse managing to calm her, the sight of your mobile suit terrified so much that she lost her self"

Kira felt that something was familiar about story. "Isn't that…"

Mwu nodded. "Allster told me about what happened at the Berlin. You see, kid, sometimes we tell lies to protect other people. Take that Impulse pilot for instance. What would happen if he finds out that he was doing the wrong thing by returning Stellar to me? I was hesitant to take her from him at first, but he seemed so earnest about her safety despite her being his enemy. I lied to him in order to make him feel better. Also, we lie in order to protect ourselves. Have you ever thought about how the Allster girl would feel is she finds out that her self is just a big lie?"

"What would she feel…" Kira said, trailing. Suddenly he stood up.

"Hey…"

"I understand everything now," Kira said, interrupting Mwu's sentence. "Thank you, Mwu," he said before he exited the room.

"You're welcome, kid," the said man replied as he leaned back on his bed, hands behind his head. "'What would she feel if she finds out that her current self is just a big lie?' I can't believe that I said that to him. That statement is supposed to apply to me, not her" Mwu chuckled mirthlessly as he imagined a certain lady who was wearing ORB uniform and commanding a four-legged ship. "I wonder what you would have told him if you're in my place"

* * *

"This is an impressive base you have here," Barzhakov commented as he and Andrew floated along the mobile suit hangar. "I'm quite honored that Miss Clyne allows me a visit here" He looked at the people behind him and continued, "along with my crew" 

"Yeah, yeah," Andrew muttered. Despite the newly found respect for the man next to him, he was still wary of him. After all, Andrew Bartfeld didn't get to live long because he trusted everyone. Earlier on, when Lacus told him to show Barzhakov around, he had objected, telling her that they could be gathering some secrets on Terminal, especially the almost completed Strike Freedom and the three DOM prototypes. But Lacus merely waved it off, smiling while doing so. "Just make sure none of your men stray out of my sight"

Barzhakov smirked. "If you don't trust us that much, you should just send us back to our ship"

"Can't. It's a personal request from her for me to show you around"

"She's really nice. I mean, it's not that often that we get special treatments such as this"

Andrew merely grunted and stopped in front of an uncompleted mobile suit. He turned toward the crowd and said, "This is one of the mobile suits we're currently building. It's classified as ZGM-XX09T DOM Trooper" He looked away and mumbled, "Damn, this makes me feel like a fryin' tour guide"

To make things worse, some of the Cherubim's crew were acting like real tourists, making those irritating 'ooh' and 'ahh' sounds and began taking pictures, posing with the technicians working on the mobile suit. They also asked the technicians various questions. While some of the questions were quite safe, ranging from what kind of paint that will be used and the brand of the screwdriver the technicians used, a few of which were quite sensitive and caused the technicians to look to Andrew for permission to answer. Since Lacus gave a blanket permission for the Cherbuim's crew to ask any questions relating to the work they do in the hangar, Andrew merely nodded, allowing them to answer the question. Despite that he looked away, not really liking the situation.

Barzhakov who noticed his companion's discomfort, smiled and moved next to him. "Don't worry. Besides taking pictures as mementos and harassing your workers, my people have no intention of spying on the whole facility.

Andrew crossed his arms. "Why should I be convinced of that?"

"Miss Clyne knows that we're not really interested in Strike Freedom and other mobile suits. And you should realize that as well when we come here and ask difficult questions openly"

"How do I know whether you're interested or not?"

"Oh, you would know, because if we're interested in something, we won't ask; we just take it"

At the same, in an underwater facility in the Pacific Ocean, a soldier in a ZAFT green uniform yawned as he looked at the screens in front of him. A cup was shoved into his view and he reached for it gratefully. "Thanks," he said to the person handed the coffee to him, a woman in a similar uniform. "You know, watching schools of fishes swimming by becomes boring after a while"

"Tell me about it," his companion replied as she drank her coffee.

He took a sip before continuing, "This base is the major lifeline of both Carpenteria and Gibraltar, but yet we're far away from the conflict and prying eyes"

"But that's not an excuse for you to slack on your job. Like you say, Lagash is the lifeline of both bases. I know that being assigned to the man the backup security center is not a glamorous job, but you shouldn't forget the center's importance in case something happen to the main"

"Yeah, yeah, Miss Head of Security. You don't have to tell me that. Although I'm bitching right now, there's no way I'm slacking off, especially with the rumor that I heard in the cafeteria that day?"

"Rumor?"

"Yeah, seems like we're keeping one of Destiny's spare DRAGOON CPU for safekeeping, in case anything happens," he said before continuing drinking. "By the way, nice coffee," he said as he put the cup on the computer panel.

"You're welcome"

"By the way, is it true that our fleet will set sail to Azores in three days time?"

Her question wasn't answered as the man slumped on to the computer panel.

She quickly moved next to him and shook his body. "Matius, what are you doing?"

He didn't move.

Seeing that she got no response from him, she shook even harder. "Come, Mautius, don't joke with me!" After trying to rouse him unsuccessfully, she reached for his pulse. It was still there, but weak. "Good" she then moved his body a bit to gain access to the security panel. She then quickly began typing various commands into the computer, bypassing the base security measures and disabling the base's detection arrays. The turncoat head of security then looked at her watch. "T minus 95 minutes. They'll be here soon" She then took a position on the floor and took out a grenade from her uniform, pulling the safety pin off and threw it to the middle of the room. Three seconds later, the whole room was engulfed in grayish smoke.

At the same time, three Deep Forbidden began to move toward the ZAFT's base slowly, towing a large cylindrical object behind them. Despite their onboard sensors registering sonar ping emanating from the base, the pilots kept their mobile suit moving forward as they knew that the base's security measures have been tampered with. Their target: one of the base' interconnecting domes.

_T minus 75 minutes,_

A crew was working on their submarine when a small jeep carrying three technicians arrived. "I'm sorry," one of the technicians said as he and his colleagues got of the jeep. He showed a paper to the crew and said, "I'm here to conduct routine maintenance on the communication array"

One of the crewmembers approached him to examine the paper. Satisfied that everything was in order, he showed the technicians inside.

If the crewmember had examined the paper more thoroughly, he would have noticed that there was something wrong with the serial numbers on it.

_T minus 62 minutes,_

Few ZAFT officers were so busy talking inside a dimly lit submarine bridge that they didn't hear small shuffling sounds approaching the room. Neither did they noticed a rubberized canister was being rolled toward the center the room. All they knew that they suddenly hear a small bursting sound and they found themselves being blinded by a bright flash.

Three fully armed and masked soldiers entered the bridge in midst of the panic, carrying rifles that resembled M4A1, a pre-Cosmic Era weapon used by the then defunct United States of America's military. They quickly and calmly take aim at their targets and opened fire. There were no loud gunshots, only a series of clicking sounds made by the rifles' firing bolt as bullets poured out of their silenced barrels. Three seconds later, every ZAFT soldiers inside the room fell down, dead.

One of the intruders looked at his watch and nodded to the other two, signaling that they were ahead of time. They exited the bridge and walked past a room, where it could be seen that an unmoving ZAFT officer was sitting on his chair, a gun fresh wound apparent on the back of his head. The trio then walked past another one of their team members who was dragging the body of their fallen compatriot. They then stopped in front of a group of people wearing ZAFT uniforms, some carrying solid backpacks behinds them. One of them gestured toward the bridge and the group quickly moved in the direction given.

The group entered the bridge and began to work, ignoring the bodies strewn all over the place. A few of them who were carrying backpacks set the near the control panel. The backpacks were then opened, revealing computers and various electronic devices inside them.

"Hurry!" Someone wearing a ZAFT's white uniform say. "While they unload the goods we must prepare the ship for immediate departure"

_T minus 14 minutes,_

Three gunshots echoed throughout the empty corridors. A bloodied ZAFT soldier was limping, grimacing at the pain he felt. Meanwhile, the areas near his left shoulder and his right legs were soaked in blood.

_T minus 2 minutes, _

In one of the base hangars, few workers were unloading some cargo into a large submarine when a squad of armed soldiers entered the room. "Halt!" the squad leader commanded. "We received a report that enemy has infiltrated our base. We would like you to stop whatever you're doing and come down here quietly"

"We can't! One of the workers replied. "We have to send this to Carpenteria as soon possible"

"Look, just do what you're told…"

"They're impostors!" a sudden shout from the hangar's door interrupted the squad leader's words. A bloodied officer was standing, breathing heavily. "Don't let them…" he didn't finish the words as he collapsed to the floor.

The squad leader looked at the collapsed at the man. He then turned toward the submarine to see that the workers were rushing into the submarine. "Get them!" he commanded his men to open fire. Unfortunately none of the shots hit their targets as the workers had entered the submarine safely. There was a large siren as the submarine began to disengage from the port and began to move away. The squad leader than ran toward a intercom that will connect him to the base control center. He pressed some buttons only to see that the screen was blank. Smashing his fist on the keypad angrily, he turned toward his men. "Go and tell the control that we have intruders running away from dome Six. And get the injured man to the sick bay"

_T minus 0, _

The situation was quickly communicated to the control center which dispatched a Bozgorov-class the runaway submarine. But before it could deploy its complement of UMF-4A GOOhN mobile suits, the three Deep Forbidden appeared from their hiding place and fired their torpedos on the ship, obliterating it completely and quickly made their getaway.

Back on the Lagash base, its commander, a stout-looking man rubbed his eyes as he and his men watched what happened. When he had regained control of himself, he turned toward his communication officer, "Can you get the headquarters?"

"Negative," the officer replied. "Seems like our coms have been disrupted"

"DAMN!" the commander cursed. "What about the getaway submarine?"

"Nearly out of our sonar in five minutes at current speed"

"How come this be happening?"

A face appeared on one of the base screens. "SIR, WE FOUND OUT THAT OUR BACKUP SECURITY CENTER HAS BEEN BROKEN INTO. SEEMS LIKE THEY DISABLED THE WARNING SYSTEM FROM THERE"

"WHAT!" The commander shouted. "Great. Just great. What more can go wrong?"

Another face appeared on the screen next to the first one. "SIR, THE DRAGOON CONTROL CPU CONTAINER IS MISSING!"

The commander put a hand on his face. "Sent out every subs that we have. I want that submarine destroyed immediately. I don't care if they have to chase it around the world, but make sure that it's destroyed. We can't let it fall into the hands of the enemy" He then turned toward the communication officer. "Get the signals up as soon as possible. We need to tell Gibraltar about what happened"

A few hours later, onboard one of the submarines sent to pursue the lone submarine, the sonar officer detected some abnormality in the sonar reading and reported to his captain, "Three mobile suits detected"

"Are they ours?" the captain asked cautiously.

"According to the pinging, they're the Deep Forbiddens"

"And the submarine we're hunting?"

"No trace of it and other submarines in this quadrant"

"All right, tell them to dock on this ship. Then set course for our base"

As the three mobile suits moved to dock, someone asked the captain, "What about the submarine we're supposed to find?"

"We just let it be. After all, other ZAFT submarines are still chasing after it, right?"

"Wouldn't they know that they had been had when they find it?" another asked.

"Probably. But that will entail them communicating with it. With the jamming device attached to sub, I think the chance of it happening it quite slim. Add that to the submarine's crew being convinced that an Earth Alliance submarine is after it and its cargo and the other commanders thinking that they were pursuing a runaway Earth Alliance sub; well you get the picture. And even if they find out about it, there's no stopping us from escaping with the DRAGOON control CPU"

"I almost feel sorry for the poor submarine's crew" someone else quipped.

"Yeah? Better them than us" the captain retorted. "To have Barzhakov think of such a mad strategy… I regretted signing up under him," he grumbled. Despite that, he had to admit that the plan was a bold one. With the help of insiders, his crew, along with two special force squad entered the base. One of the squads neutralized the crew in the one of the Vosgulov submarines docked there in order for his crew to take over while the other squad stole the top secret CPU. He didn't know how they managed to trick the whole base into chasing one of their own submarines, but later he would found out that one of the insiders shot himself and went into the hangar and tricked the submarine crew and the security force assembled there that the other party was the enemy. The ruse worked and the submarine hastily left the base. To complete the illusion of it being the enemy, a communication jamming device was set up on fleeing submarine before hand and the Deep Forbiddens were ordered to helped it get away.

"But you have to admit the plan goes as planned," another added.

"Infiltrate a base infested with ZAFT squids. Bah! We're elite submarine crews of the Eurasian Federation, not the goddamn Spetnazs!"

"A submarine crew that has hijacked a ZAFT sub and is currently running away with ZAFT most prized computer system" the sonar officer added.

"And we're no stinking pirates either!"

* * *

1

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**Author's note (26 December 2006)**

1. I didn't think that I would be updating so soon, but here's the next chapter. Ah, before I forget again:

**"HAPPY NEW YEAR!"**

2. I know that this chapter is like a filler episode, but ever since I've written Fallen Angel, I would like to explain about what is Cherubim main's designation. I know I did say about it being similar to Phantom Pain, but I didn't elaborate on it as much as I should. This chapter should show that Cherubim (and Eurasian) is really a grey faction compared to Terminal.

3. Also, I want to focus on other aspects of the war. I know that Gundam is all about mobile suits, but maybe it would be better if it's interceded with tactical warfare. In Gundam Seed Destiny, the only time I see a Special Force fighting was when a group tried to kill Lacus in ORB. Of course, there's a nice scene in Stargazer where Phantom Pain stormed DSSD's base to steal the AI unit.

4. At first, I wondered whether I should have the group that attacked the ZAFT's Lagash base belonging to Terminal instead of Cherubim. But if I do that, then it wouldn't seem right as Terminal is the ever good faction.

5. Spetsgruppa - special group. Spetnaz - special purpose.

6. Actually, I planned for a special scene between Fllay and Kira in this chapter. Oh well, you'll have to wait until I finish my mini thesis project and my exams.

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Return to Top 


	40. The sad melody of love

Lacus sat on her seat, reading the report on an electronic tablet. Andrew came in and handed her a water bottle. "Thank you," she said as she took the bottle.

"They did it, didn't they?" Andrew asked.

"It seems like it," she said while nodding slowly.

"Huh!" Andrew spat. "Now I understand what he meant when he said that he would just take what he wants without asking. Should we improve the security of our hangar?"

"No. There's no need"

"They have already stolen Legend's part; so we must protect our own mobile suits from similar fate"

"Don't worry, Andrew" Lacus said while she calmly drink from the bottle. She raised her eyebrows. "Excellent as usual"

"Thank you"

The pink-haired princess put the tablet away. "According to tracing we did on the Eurasian Fleet orbiting above South China Sea, it seems that the ion emission from the ships' drive were quite smaller than expected"

Andrew thought about she said and realized something. "Are you saying…,"

She smiled. "Yes, it's a big practical joke"

"DAMN!" It was a trick by Barzhakov after all. If it was true that the Eurasian would attack ORB, they would need to carry a substantial amount of mobile suits and at least a sizable battlegroup of soldiers in order to have a good chance of victory. But that was not the case as the man had purposely sent a severely ill-equipped fleet over the region. What would he achieve by doing so?

"ZAFT was also monitoring the fleet" Lacus added.

"That means…"

"Everyone, including us is actually thinking the way Eurasian wanted; it was going to stop ORB from sending its own navy fleet to help LOGOS. Actually, I think that the fleet serves as a diversion so that a raid on the Lagash base could be carried"

"By an unknown, or in this case a known group that is known for being the enemy of Eurasian. So if Gilbert asks around, Eurasian could deny that it was involved and point out the fact that Cherubim is their enemy as well"

Lacus nodded. "Actually, we found out about the Eurasian fleet's movement and the fact that it was a deception before Cherubim arrived here"

"So why didn't you tell him that?"

"I only have an inkling of what he was going to do but wasn't sure what. Only know I understand the full extent of it"

Andrew scratched his head, wondering how to respond. Then his hand stopped as he asked, "What do you mean full extent?"

"With ORB out of the picture, LOGOS would have been at a severe disadvantage compared to ZAFT. However, with the Lagash base being attacked, the ZAFT's navy from Gibraltar has to be diverted to guard it."

"That damn bastard!" Andrew cursed. "How can he think of such a fiendish plan? He managed to disrupt both LOGOS and Gilbert's plans with just one stroke"

Meanwhile, onboard the docked Cherubim, Barzhakov was fighting for his life, with his hands on his throat. Meanwhile, Sammy, the ship's communication specialist was giving slaps to the man's back. Finally, the thing that threatened his life was out of his body and onto the table. "Stupid inedible steak" he grumbled. "I'm going to throw Helga out of the airlock for this attempted murder"

"Throwing her out of the airlock is useless as we're still at Terminal's base," Dorothy, which was sitting in front of him commented. "Anyway, the steak seemed fine by me. Probably it's due to the fact that you're eating without chewing it first"

"My mother taught me to chew 40 times before swallowing," Barzhakov said. "Maybe it's because someone was saying something bad behind my back" It was a common belief held by different that if people were to talk about other people behind his or her back, that person would react to the talk. The reaction would differ from custom to customs, from sneezing in Japan to being choked while eating in other regions.

"Nothing good, I guess," Sammy said as she sat on her own seat. "By the way, Captain, we and the others are betting for the real reason you sent the fleet over to South China Sea. Some believes that it's to intimidate ORB and some believes that it's to trick ZAFT while we rob the CPU from its; even few believes that you planned to achieve both"

"Bozhe moi. Not that over reading my actions again!" Barzhakov groaned. "Look, without the fleet or not, Attha would still take control of ORB; she's that kind of person"

"So, it's to trick ZAFT! To quote one of your favorite stratagems, 'Repairing the plank roads openly while advancing to Chenchang via the other path'. Is that it?"

"Close enough. At least you have learned not to butcher them anymore. And to answer your question, no. We'll still take the CPU because Terrence said that we'll need to train Allster and the other pilots to fight against DRAGOON units"

"So, the real reason is…" Dorothy asked as she leaned toward him.

"The fleet Commander is a Eurasian spy. So, I sent him out there hoping that the goddess of Luck is on my side and maybe Joule's team would come and get rid of him. Of course, now that you mentioned about the strategic implication, it did seem good, didn't it?"

"WHAT!" Sammy shouted, not believing what she heard.

"And he's a sore loser at card games too"

* * *

Fllay entered her darkened room and let out a tired sigh. It was a trying time for her. She had recovered from the problem she had over her accidental triggering of her APEX, but it seemed that while she was unconscious something had happened. When she woke up, Jackson told her that the she had to return to the Cherubim in order to help with Fallen's flight test. Also, Cagalli didn't seem to be hostile around her anymore, and they could have a cordial conversation without trying to tear each other out. But that wasn't what bothers her. Kira was what bothered her. 

She could be wrong, but it looked as if Kira was trying to maneuver her into a corner. Sure, he didn't do anything wrong. It's just that he acted as if they really know each other, something that she desperately wanted to disavow. There were many times where he would suddenly appear next to her and accompanied her. The dinner she had an hour ago was an example of that. Fllay was eating when she felt the seat next to her being pulled and there he was, with his own tray of food. Then there was another time when he joined her for a walk along Archangel's corridor, talking as they did so. Although those things were innocent, Fllay could feel that Kira was trying to get the two of them alone. And she couldn't risk that as she might break down under his gentle gaze. What almost happened the last time was a warning for her about that.

Without even bothering to switch on the light, she walked to the table next to her bed and slowly remove her gloves. Fllay didn't wear them out of habit but necessity. Ever since she had come aboard Archangel, she wore them all the time as she couldn't risk Kira accidentally touching her. Besides, the gloves helped to mask her fingers movements; it was important to mask her hand signals discretely. As she flexed her bare hands, she idly wondered why she was affected when Kira and her hands accidentally brushed together that afternoon, despite wearing gloves.

But it wouldn't matter anymore. Tomorrow she would leave Archangel, accompanied by Vince. Jackson would be staying onboard to conduct conversion training for the ORB pilots who will take over her and Vince's Murasames. Once she leaves Archangel, she would make sure that she would avoid going back to the ship or anywhere Kira would be. She would have to be contented to watching him from afar, and not come near...

The redhead blinked her eyes. It felt as if he was close by. Oh, she still couldn't feel his presence unlike others, but she had noticed that whenever she was with him, their proximity would have a soothing and calming effect on her. "Fllay" a quiet voice behind her sent shivers of fear and at the same time, longing into her. Even in the room's darkness, she already knew who the person was; the only person apart from her already deceased friend Elina, who was able to completely take her by surprise. Despite that, she quickly straightened her right forefinger and middle finger, while bending the fingers at the second knuckle. She steeled her gaze, as her mind tried to control itself and all of her body from betraying the sign that she was shocked by his presence in the room. "Oh, it's you, Mr. Yamato" She turned around slowly, finding him leaning on the wall next to the door, arms crossed. His head was lowered, eyes hidden by a fringe. "How can I help you?"

Kira raised his head and looked at her in her eyes. "Maybe by being more honest with me"

Fllay had to turn her head away slowly as she could feel her mental barricade was being chipped away by his mere gaze. "I was asking an honest question," she said to stall for time as she tried to gather her wits.

Kira took a step, his face unreadable. "You remember, do you?"

"Remember about what?"

"Me?"

Despite the mental barricade, Fllay almost gasped. _'He has found out,'_ she thought to herself. _'What shall I do?'_

"You do remember about me and the first war do you?" Kira asked again, continuing his relentless questioning.

Fllay didn't reply but instead her right hand's fingers straightened, before forming a hex sign. But before she could clench them, the final step needed to initiate her conditioned mental barrier, Kira grasped it. In less then a second, he had intertwined her fingers with him, ensuring that she couldn't pull it away easily. She looked at their hands being together with shock. It was as if he knew about her mental barrier. Quickly her eyes darted to her left hand, thinking of making the signal with it. She was a moment late. To her horror, his other hand had also grasped and intertwined with it.

It seemed that he knew.

As if confirming her silent fear, Kira nodded, "Since the first time we met after you saved me, I had been wondering about why you always move your fingers in a particular way" He smiled softly. "It's to enable you to prepare yourself to face me, isn't it?"

Fllay felt panic coursing through her vein at his comment. She had thought that her plan was perfect and he wouldn't notice about it. But it wasn't the case. Not only he knew that she was pretending, but he also had found out about her hand movements and what it signified. As she felt his warmness engulfing her both hands and began to spread throughout her body slowly, her mind was racing, trying to think of how to response to him.

"You haven't answer yet my question, Fllay," he prodded gently

She tightened her jaw as her eyes sparkled at him in silent defiance. Ever since her coming back to life, she had vowed to her very soul that she wouldn't let him forgive and love her, no matter how much she loved him. The conflicting want and need caused tremendous emotional pain to her. She didn't really consider herself as a masochist, but strangely enough, she found herself enjoying the self-inflicted torture as she felt that it was the way only way to atone to what she did to him. Even as their close proximity and intertwined fingers caused the feeling of longing to stab her heart painfully, she made a resolve not to admit about her still remembering him. If he knew that she still had nightmares over what she did to him, he would certainly forgive her; Fllay didn't want that to happen. She was confident that he didn't know that about her Block Word. Although it's not as effective as her Block Signal, it would give her enough time to release herself from his clutch and complete the Block Signal. All she needed to do was to open her mouth, say it and…

Kira's mouth was upon hers, preventing her from saying the Block Word.

He really didn't know what possessed him to kiss her, but when he saw opened her mouth to say something, a voice at the back of his mind warned him that he had to stop her from saying it; which he did by putting his mouth on hers as both of his hands were still holding hers. But when he did, that familiar bolt of electricity he felt when they kissed during the first war coursed went through them. So, despite his earlier intention of just wanting to stop her, Kira found himself enjoying it very much. So he went on with the flow.

Meanwhile, Fllay slowly felt her body began to relax against his, despite her not wanting it to happen. At the same time, she could feel one by one the strands of her resolve breaking because of his kiss, as her longing for him began to cloud her mind. She could hear the deafening thud of her hearts beats as it began to beat in rhythm with his.

When Kira broke the kiss for air, he could see that her eyes were pleading with him to stop. He did feel a slight hesitation for a moment. But when he saw her swollen lips quivering in the darkness, he dipped his head again to claim her lips, this time with more passion. Somehow, Kira felt that he must stop with what he was doing because of something or someone, but he wasn't sure what. All he managed to think that he wanted the kiss to continue forever.

As he continued, he could feel that her body began to melt against his. She still tried to not to respond to the kiss but he knew that she was near her breaking point and found himself wanting it to happen. Freeing his hands slowly, he then held her head using one hand and holding her body with other. Then he could feel her arms began to move slowly and hesitantly to encircle his body. By instinct, he pressed her closer to him as he deepened the kiss. Her arms held his body tentatively for a second before they tightened as she began to respond to his kiss. Although there were no words being exchanged between the two of them, Kira has gotten his answer. He had broken through her careful placed barriers and walls to arrive at answer that he was seeking.

Fllay remembered him from the very beginning.

As she kissed him back, a rational part of her was warning against doing so will cause her to want to be near him in the future. It was too late as Fllay was already intoxicated by her passion, her needs. His lips, his touch and everything about him were very potent drugs that caused her to hunger for his touch more and more. The pain of being separated from him for few moments as they broke the kiss was too overwhelming for her. Every fiber of her being craved him and it drove her crazy when he put his hands on her shoulders and looked at her in that way. Fllay knew that it was wrong, but she couldn't help herself shivering from desire and anticipation.

Suddenly and without warning, Kira continued the kiss, leaning against her body. They ended up falling into her bed as they continued kissing and exploring each other's body. That rational part of hers was still screaming cautions and reminders to her that she will regret it if she continued on; which she didn't listen even when she and Kira began to move on to the next step. The voice began to become dimmer and dimmer as wanton lust and passion began to dictate her reasoning and behavior. But when Kira's body was poised over hers, the voice made itself clear, telling her that if she let him continue there would be no going back for her. Fllay knew that it was dangerous for her and was trying to muster whatever left of her tattered resolve to stop him, but when she saw his violet eyes barring his soul to her, she felt herself being swept away by the love she felt for him.

Kira made love to her, and as she made love to him back, she felt that something inside the inner core of her soul shattered; something that she knew would come back to haunt her later. But as she and Kira became one, she was beyond caring. Her soul yearned for him all this while, but she had managed to keep it under control. However, trying to control it was like building a dam to hold raging torrent using only domino blocks. Fllay knew it was futile, but she tried anyway. She never would have thought that it would be Kira himself who would destroy her emotional protection. As they love each other, she felt herself slowly drowning in the violent stream of the emotions she felt for him.

Ever since she came back to life, she had to question her feeling for him. Was it real love that she felt for him? Or was it an attachment to him, caused by the guilt she felt of her action? And about the feeling itself; was that feeling really what she felt or caused by the experimentation done on her? If it was because of the experiments, would it be artificial or fake because it wasn't there in the first place? The uncertainty of what she felt for Kira was another reason why she tried to push him away.

Despite the numerous questions she had for herself, Fllay Allster had no real answers. Maybe it wasn't love but guilt. Maybe the feelings were induced in her by researchers in order to see what she would do. Despite all those unanswered questions, she did know something. Whatever she felt for him, it was painfully intense. And as she run her fingers at the scalp of his head while they were kissing, she felt unrestrained joy as her sick and injured soul basked in the warmth of being together with him.

Was it love, or was it not?

Fllay didn't know. But as the moment in time they were shared began to stretch into infinity, she knew that her soul no longer belong to her.

It became his.

An hour later, Kira found himself clasping her body which was on top of his as one of his hands stroke her scarlet hair absentmindedly. While it was true that they had surrendered themselves to instinctual lust, there was something that transpired between the two of them that he couldn't explain; something that wasn't there when they first made love. It was neither passion nor tenderness as they were certainly present when she first surrendered herself to him. Kira was not sure how but somehow he felt completed and contended by her presence. Perhaps that was what people meant when they said about becoming one when making love but he wasn't so sure about it. To him, when they made love, it was as if he had ceased to become Kira Yamato and she ceased being Fllay Allster; they have become a single entity, a single being that was filled with love.

As they began to edge slowly toward their mutual release, he found his thoughts mixed with foreign ones, all of them were in her voice. It was as if they were sharing thoughts as he somehow could feel that she was hearing his thoughts as well. And when the peak came, it totally blew the two of them away. He or rather what the fusion of the two of them had a single thought: The completion was whole. Then Kira didn't know what happened. When he came to consciousness, he saw that he was on top of her, breathing slowly and looking into her unconscious face. He then quickly shifted their body positions so that she was on top of him, lying on his chest.

Kira craned his neck so that he could take a look at her sleeping feature, softly brushing a few strands of red hair sticking to her damp face. He wondered how a woman like her had become involved in the war in the first place. He still couldn't believe the fact that she was Fallen's pilot, the one who single handedly defeated him in Berlin. She seemed so vulnerable and watching her in that position reminded Kira of his promise, which was to protect her. Nevertheless she died, but not without protecting his heart.

The thought reminded him of a feeling he had been having since the first war. He had changed. Kira knew that the change was not brought about by the war and her death, but what he hallucinated. He could clearly remember watching her shuttle exploding right in front of his eyes, destroyed by Creuset's DRAGOONs. The anguish he felt then made him very willing to kill himself. However, she appeared in front of him after she was killed, telling him how sorry she was and promising that she would protect his heart forever. It was then he felt that he had changed as the pain in his heart lessened. From time to time, he felt that as if she was still inside him, protecting his heart.

But what about the girl he was holding in his hands? She was as real as the one who was in his heart. However, the Fllay he was holding seemed to be a ghost of her former self. She was no longer the vibrant girl that he had set his sight on while studying in Heliopolis. When he kissed her, he could feel that something was missing from her. Strangely, that feeling disappeared when they became one. But before he could dwell on it further, she began to stir in his arms. Despite she was just waking up and still being buoyed by the fleeting sense of their lovemaking, Kira felt the need to talk. "I wish that I didn't act like a jerk to you that day"

"It's okay," she murmured. "It's not that I don't deserve it"

"It was not okay," Kira said, feeling that he have had that conversation with her before. "And you don't deserve such a harsh treatment. I should have stopped by and listen to you, even if for a minute. Then perhaps things would have ended differently"

Fllay was quiet.

He continued, "Maybe I would have been able to keep my promise to protect you" He suddenly felt his chest becoming wet with silent tears. "Fllay?" he asked urgently as his grip on her tightened. "What's wrong?"

"You're not making this easy on me," Fllay whispered with a strained and choked voice.

"What do you mean?" he asked again as he rocked her body gently. "Tell me what I should do"

"You have to stop this, Kira"

"Stop what? Why?"

Her tears began to flow freely. "You... you're making me feel… loved"

* * *

1

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**Author's note (30 December 2006)**

1. Despite me saying that this chapter will be in January 2007, recent events had caused it to be completed earlier. I'm very much annoyed at how my holiday plan was ruined TWICE in just two weeks! Had to work somewhere. And to top this up, the people who did this didn't even tell me the details of my work. I mean, if it's my responsibility, stop acting as if it's not. Not only I had to find out about it from other people, I didn't have a clue as in what exactly happened that cause me to be drafted for work. To my embarrassment, even people outside my company know more details about what I'm supposed to do more than I do. It's bloody annoying, really. Oh well. Ironically, it gives me motivation to finish this chapter. Redirecting negative energy toward healthy outlet I suppose. So, expect the next update later than expected, probably in February.

2. Here's my take on what happened in the last episode of Gundam Seed. As many of you know, Fllay died and reappeared in front of Kira, telling him that she would protect him from there on. Her soul then entered Kira's heart in order to protect him. Here's an interesting thought, one that I was dying to write about: What happen if Fllay comes back to live? Would she still be Fllay or not? That's an interesting question. Zidane answered the question in his own way in the Legend of Razgriz by having Kira returning the Seed to her. I opted for a slightly different approach.

3. Yes, it goes without saying that this is one of the most crucial chapters regarding Fllay. This chapter explains everything about her from the very beginning and will shed some light on what will happen in the future.

4. Truth be told, I wanted to do a Lemon scene for this story and judging from the chapter above, it seems that I'm can churn out a decent good enough Lemon. It has been one of what I wanted to do when I write a story. The desire came after reading a Rurouni Kenshin fanfiction, "Heavenly Incarnations" by Ashley Auld or better know as Raya. This chapter shares a major point with the Heavenly Incantation's Lemon scene. Basically, the story is about Kaoru, who after being killed by her lover's enemy returned as a guardian angel to protect him. However, she became a fallen angel in the end and was sent to hell. You can go and search in the web if you would like to find out about it.

5. But writing a full fledge Lemon would require me to set up other homepage to host the lemon part. Sadly, I'm too lazy to do that. Apart from that, the main focus is still on their Newtype connection. That's why the scene above is quite abstract. Plus, it's a non graphic description, except for the kissing part so I don't think it goes against fanfiction's guidelines.

* * *


	41. The ORB's Whisper

Kira struggled to squint his eyes in the darkened room, feeling tired despite him being the so-called Ultimate Coordinator. To be honest, he would have preferred to keep his eyes closed and submit to need to sleep. After all, the room was comfortable while the velvety scent of love permeated in the air, acting as a natural tranquilizer to him. Besides, the body next to him felt warm and comforting. His eyes widened a bit as memories of what happened the night before hit him. He had actually wanted to question her about her memory of him but they ended up on her bed, making love.

Saying that it was an accident was out of the question as he then proceeded to have two more 'accidents' with her. And each time, she reciprocated with similar intensity. Kira closed his eyes, wondering what he had done to the two of them. But when he opened his to see Fllay snuggling close to him, her sleeping face serene, he couldn't stop a soft smile from forming on his lips. To him, she looked like a precious treasure, one that he has to guard. His mind becoming hazy as tiredness caught up with him once more. As he closed his eyes to sleep once more, drunk with passion from their lovemaking, his last thought was that he could get used to waking up to the sight of Fllay sleeping next to him.

But few hours later he was in the Strike Rouge's cockpit, borrowed from his sister, the thought forgotten from his mind. Instead, he was berating himself. Kira didn't even react to her getting onboard the shuttle, only nodding numbly as she began to move away. She was getting going away for the second time, and unlike the first one in the first war, he was simply letting her. Clucking his tongue in exasperation, he went through the system check slowly, as the Phase Shift armour began to power up, turning the grayish mobile suit into the familiar blue color scheme. The Strike Rouge's original color was a bit inappropriate for him.

Mirrillia's face came online. "Change of plan"

"Huh?"

"We have just received a communiqué from Cherubim, asking the shuttle to go to an island near the Mariana Trench to pickup a passenger"

Kira nodded, remembering that Mariana Trench, the deepest part of the ocean was located not very far from Philippines. "So it wouldn't go to space directly?"

"Yes"

"But the shuttle would be vulnerable"

The girl on the screen smiled. "That's why we have you as one of the escorts" Her face then turned serious. "Anyway, the person the shuttle would pickup is none other than Mr. Shauzer, the engineer who developed Fallen. I'm not sure about the details, but he has obtained some software from ZAFT's mobile suits"

"Probably the OS. Lacus did tell me about the Terminal's mobile suits would need some adjustments"

Upon hearing Kira mentioning Lacus, Mir became quiet.

"Mir?"

"Oh, yeah. Good luck and be careful," the CIC officer said hurriedly as she signed off.

With him being alone with his thought once more, Kira's thought continued, this time focusing on his sister. He had felt a bit disappointed when Cagalli excused herself from sending Fllay off. While hoping the two of them become friends was something seemingly futile, nevertheless he had hoped that at least Cagalli had the courtesy to say goodbye to Fllay.

But if he was with Cagalli, he would have been surprised with how the fact that their thought was similar. The Attha heir was lamenting on her own cowardice. Cagalli had planned to send the Allster girl off, and apologize to her while doing that. However, she got a last minute cold feet and excused herself from doing so by saying that the newly completed ORB-00 Shizuka needed to be tested. Besides, she didn't want to be there in case something happened between Kira and Fllay. The fact that Fllay was Kira's ex-lover presented Cagalli with a dilemma as Lacus, her friend, was his current one. Although there was part of her that demanded her to interfere on Lacus' behalf, doing so would make her a hypocrite as she had told Kira off for intruding on her wedding. Granted, she was grateful for what he had done, but it doesn't changed the fact that he had interfered in her life and she would be damned if she follow suit.

So there she was, in Shizuka's cockpit, 50 meters underground inside a hidden hangar; going through the combat simulation fighting in order to distract her from her musing. Cagalli was so engrossed in the simulation that she lost the track of time until Erica Simmons, the chief engineer of Orb military appeared on the screen.

"Miss Attha, our long range sensors detected multiple heat signatures heading toward the convoy"

"Hostile?"

"Seems so?"

"Have Kira been notified?"

"Yes, along with the shuttle and its passengers"

Cagalli did a brief assessment. "How many and what kind?"

"A flight, multiple type signatures"

"A flight…" Cagalli's eyes widened as she realized that the eight aggressors, most probably seasoned mercenaries going to attack Kira and his charge. "Damn," she swore. "Notify the airbase"

"But it would take the Murasames some time to arrive there"

"Then what do you suggest?" Cagalli said, almost snapping.

Erica's face had a calm expression. "Shizuka has twice the speed of our Murasames and can arrive there faster"

"Then let's not waste anytime. Refuel it"

"It's ready to launch. Please wait a moment"

Cagalli was confused by what Erica had said. Why was Shizuka being refueled if it's only going to undergo trial test? But her thought was interrupted when she heard the muffled sound of machinery rumbling. Then her cockpit shook a bit before all the screens shut down. She wasn't surprised with what happened as Erica had to her earlier that whenever Shizuka was being fitted with a module, the mobile OS would reboot as the optimization would be carried out. True enough, five seconds later, the screens came back to life, beginning with the main screen.

**_ORB Emirates' MS-OS _**

**ORB – 00 Shizuka**

**G **eneralized

**U **tility

**N** ascent

**D** evelopment

**A** tmospheric

**M** aneuver

**Combat Module A-01 Fujin Connected**

Meanwhile, at the Control Room, Erica looked as the hangar's hatch being opened while the platform holding a mobile armour with orange and white color scheme pivoted so that the equipped faced up. As its engines came to live, Erica wondered about the late Nuzumi Attha's vision for peace to reign. Peace-filled era where the mobile suits would be used to help humankind instead of being the messengers of pain and sorrow. Hence, the designation for the mobile suit.

"ORB Double Zero, initiate launch sequence" she announced into the microphone.

The orange and white mobile suit engaged its boosters. Flame and smoke filled the launch bay as the metallic bird of prey struggled against the restraining arms, but was kept in place. Erica could almost feel the irony with the mobile armour's name. 'Shizuka' in Japanese meant 'to quiet' or as Nuzumi put it, 'to pacify'.

"Shizuka, you're cleared for launch"

The restraining arms moved away as Shizuka sped out of the launching bay to intercept the unidentified mobile suits, its trailing smoke was what left. Erica wondered whether the late ORB leader knew that 'shizuka' could be understood as 'to silence'. She turned toward the personnel next to her.

"Launch Bishamon using WASP to support her"

"Yes. Integrating Module A-03 to WASP" he answered as he entered the commands.

Another module popped out of its compartment and was placed on a remote-controlled aircraft Erica had referred to as WASP. Its acronym meaning 'Weaponry Automated Striker Pack', the aircraft would be linked to Shizuka for control and guidance. While it can function as an autonomous mobile armour, it couldn't really match the skill of human pilots that Cagalli would be facing.

"Launching WASP," the man said as the Striker Pack was launched.

"Perhaps that man knew that the war will break out once more..." Erica said.

"Pardon?" the man beside her asked.

Erica shook her head. "Nothing"

* * *

It was Kira's extremely good reflex that allowed him to evade the beam shots rained at the Bluish Strike Rouge. As sweats of anxiousness poured out of his pores, he stole a glance at the shuttle Fllay was on. It was still untouched with the four intruders were focusing on taking down his mobile suit and two Murasames that were the shuttle's escorts. That was a good sign, he told himself. Judging from their behaviors, the unidentified mobile suits were probably ordered to capture the shuttle intact. So they would leave the shuttle alone until the escorts have been defeated. 

Kira had no plan to let them succeed.

But the intruders, two Windams, a Blaze Zaku Phantom and a GOUF Ignited, each with their own custom color scheme and weapons, seemed to be piloted by no mere pilots. A Serpent Tail emblem on the GOUF's left shoulder confirmed that fact. Things didn't look good. The fact that he was piloting an outdated mobile suit didn't augur well with the situation. "Are you all right?" he asked one of his wingmen.

"The ZAKU is trying to lock on me, sir," the wingman answered in panic, revealing his inexperience in combats. The pilot and his colleague had just graduated from the academy and were assigned to what supposed to be a safe mission. Unfortunately, that wasn't what their enemy had in mind when they attacked.

"Calm down, Pierrot" Kira coaxed while fighting his own adversary while his eyes were tracking the other rookie. The other rookie was faring better, so Kira felt that he could pay more attention to the one who needed his help. "Reduce power by 30. Disengage the angle of attack limiter. The pull the stick backward by 80, until the angle of attack is 80 degrees"

The Murasame that the rookie piloted began to pitch up until its conical nose was pointing up while still maintaining the same altitude while its built-up momentum still propelled it forward, albeit at a slower speed. The maneuver was a classical one, known as the 'Pugachev Cobra'. While Kira could have advised for the Murasame to engage its mobile suit mode, doing so would require the mobile armour to use its airbrakes to slow down to a speed that allowed it to transform without putting excessive stress on the airframe. However, that would put the Murasame under the risk of being shot down.

"Now, increase the angle to 105 degrees, speed to maximum and engage the afterburners," Kira guided as he traded shots with the two Windams.

The Murasame zoomed upward, causing the ZAKU to overshoot it. Finally understanding what Kira wanted him to do, Pierrot decreased his Murasame's speed, executed a tight loop and line up his mobile suit behind the ZAKU and fired. The beam pierced through the mobile suit's torso, igniting the propellant and the battery reserve stored there. A second later, the ZAKU exploded.

"Commander Yamato. I got him!" the pilot cried out jubilantly.

"Don't let you guard down," Kira said as Strike Rouge executed a spin and exited from it by hurling its shield at one of the Windams and fired a shot at another. The shield hit the pursuing its intended target, sending it careening toward the ocean below, but the other one blocked the shot easily. "The enemy could have brought along…"

Before he could finish his words, multiple beams hit the two escorting Murasames, turning them to giant fireballs in the sky. Kira narrowed his eyes and saw two more GOUFs and two Slaughter Daggers arriving on the scene. Things didn't look very encouraging to him.

The opinion was shared by Fllay who was watching everything from her station as the shuttle's pilot. "We must save him!" she said to Vince.

"How? This shuttle isn't armed" Vince, who was sitting on the copilot's seat answered, almost growling in exasperation. He was also concerned with was happening at that time.

"I don't know"

"We must rendezvous with Terrence so that we can get the Deuterium Inhibitors to Terminal along with the OS enhancement Mr. Yamato had programmed"

"But…"

Vince smirked as he looked at the radar. "Oh, don't worry, we are helping him. The two GOUFs and the Windam are moving toward us"

Since mercenaries decided that since they outnumber Strike Rouge by six to one, they could finally focus on capturing the shuttle. Unfortunately for them, the shuttle's pilots weren't going to give themselves up easily. As one of the GOUFs move to the shuttle's side to apprehend it, the shuttle swerved before it moved to the front of the mobile suit. The shuttle then engaged its boosters and surged forward. The extremely hot exhaust gas from the shuttle hit the GOUF head on.

Vince looked at the screen as the GOUF had to stop, leaving only one in pursuit of them now. "What did you do just now?" he asked Fllay. "Why did it stop?"

"The exhaust gas damaged the main camera functions as well as some secondary ones," the redhead pilot answered "Take over for a moment,"

"That's great but I don't think that his buddy will fall for the same trick"

The remaining GOUF fired some shots from the beam guns on its wrists, forcing the shuttle to twist to avoid the shots.

"We're in deep trouble aren't we?" Vince commented through gritted teeth. "If this continues on, we'll be captured"

Fllay closed her eyes, thinking about what she should do. There was one thought that she was having since the attack began. It was important that the mission they were undertaking at that time succeed whatever the cost. She had no choice but to use it. She clenched her right fist. Next she then formed a hex sign before straightening all of her fingers; the sequence was the hand signal to release her ability. Fllay steeled for the slight pain followed by heightening of all her senses; the signs for her APEX being activated.

Nothing happened.

She went through the sequence again twice and still nothing happened. Meanwhile, the GOUF was getting nearer and nearer to the shuttle.

Still nothing happened.

Many thoughts began to race in her head, all centered on her inability to trigger her APEX ability. But despite that she took over the control from Vince and engaged the airbrake, causing both of them to jerk forward. Despite the strong and sudden pull, she quickly regained her focus and turned the shuttle to the right while increasing the thrust again. The movement managed to threw GOUF away from them for a moment, but it then continued its pursuit. Fllay clamped down an urge to curse and checked the radar. Strike was being kept busy by the other four mobile suits. The annoying GOUF mobile suit was already on to them and began to extend one of its metallic hands toward the shuttle's left wing.

Then it broke off and moved away, as a green beam shot would have hit it if it remained on the interception course.

Cagalli's face appeared on the shuttle's communication system. "Seems to me like you always have someone chasing after you," she said to Fllay. "You really are infamous," she teased.

"Maybe they thought that it's you who's in this shuttle" Fllay replied, ignoring the dirty look she got from Vince for disrespecting his leader. Despite being an offhanded comment, her words were close to the truth. Cagalli and ORB's intelligence would never find out about the reason for the attack, but the mercenaries were being paid to capture the shuttle as it was tipped that Cagalli would be travelling on it.

"Sigh. What an ungrateful person," Cagalli said. "Well, leave this ugly guy to me. You keep out of trouble" Cagalli said as her image disappeared.

Fllay and Vince looked as the GOUF fought against a never-seen before mobile armour. "The top secret project that we've been hearing about?" Fllay asked Vince.

"Probably," her copilot agreed.

At the same time, Cagalli was still trying to get used to controlling her mobile armour. The simulation feel was different than the one she was experiencing. The raw power and handling had been poorly duplicated by the simulator; it was a given since Shizuka has just been completed recently. While wrestling with the control, Cagalli momentarily forgot about the GOUF. The one-eyed mobile suit managed to get behind her mobile armour. "What the hell?"

"ENGAGE THE AKATSUKI SYSTEM," a metallic voice said over the speaker.

Cagalli did as she was told knowing that the ZERO system was advising her about the best step to take. While Shizuka wasn't nuclear-equipped or has numerous weapons, it was equipped with Z-vector Enhanced Robust Operation computer. The computer excelled at processing multiple images in 3D, thus enabling it to assist in many tasks, both military and non-military. After she had activated the Akatsuki system, the mobile armour began to emit a golden glow all around, as the Akatsuki system began dispersing plasma around it. The plasma had just engulfed the mobile armour when the GOUF fired off several beam shots.

The shots hit the mobile suit dead-on, but to the shock of the GOUF's pilot and to the relief of Cagalli, the shots seemed to have no effect.

"Looks like it's my turn," Cagalli said as she turned her mobile armour. The turning seemed easier than before as the wind resistance seemed to be lesser. The Attha heiress remembered reading about the plasma system, due to the intense hit it radiates, improved the dynamic airflow. "Let's see how you like beams shoved up your ass," she said as she fired of some beams of her own.

But what the GOUF lacked in sophistication, the pilot compensate through his experience and skills. The mobile suit quickly moved out of the harm's way while firing a few more beam shots at Shizuka, albeit the shots were also ineffective.

Both of them continued to trade attacks, with Cagalli's attacks missed while the GOUF's beam attacks were not having any effect. Any questions regarding the one hiring the mercenaries were put to rest with the arrival of two flights of Windams to the scene. The newcomers then quickly converged on Shizuka.

"Sis. Are you okay?" Kira, whose face was on the communication screen asked, concerned.

As Shizuka jarred from the beam shots rained by the enemies, Cagalli answered, "Sure"

The cockpit's red light flashed as the cockpit shook some more. "WARNING, AKATSUKI'S TEMPERATURE IS APPROACHING DANGEROUS LEVEL"

"Nothing to worry about, little brother. Big sister will take care of the mean ol' Windams. You just handle your own problem"

"Please be careful"

"Yeah" Cagalli answered as the red warning light flashed again, this time with greater intensity.

"WARNING, MULTIPLE MISSILES DETECTED. CALCULATING EVASION PLOT" A screen then displayed the 3-dimensional pathway Shizuka had to take in order to shoot down or evade the attacks.

"Shit. Why doesn't Shizuka come equipped with Variable Phase?" she muttered as Shizuka began executing a barrel roll.

Two missiles passed through underneath Shizuka's canard while the other nearly hit the rudder.

Cagalli yanked the joystick hard to left.

Three missiles approaching from above and two from underneath were destroyed by its CIWS. The resulting explosions also caused few more to explode prematurely.

"Damn, this is hard"

Two more missiles came in line with Shizuka's main weapons and were destroyed.

"Three more…"

The remaining missiles were destroyed by WASP that had just arrived.

Unfortunately, the computers prediction capability didn't compensate for the fact that the enemies can change their tactics. Missiles were still coming toward Shizuka, with the hostile mobile suits firing their weapons to keep it busy. Finally the missiles were too close enough for computer to figure out which route to take. At the same time, the golden plasmatic aura surrounding Shizuka dispersed as the Akatsuki system overheated, rendering Shizuka vulnerable to beam shots.

Kira, who managed to reduce his own enemy to just two, turned his attention toward his sister in time to see a very large explosion taking place. "CAGALLI!" he shouted.

His own opponents took the opportunity of him being distracted and managed to destroy Strike Rouge's 57mm beam rifle. They would have persisted in their attack if not for the fact that the WASP unit attacked them.

"I told you that I'll be okay," Cagalli's voice brought a surge of relief to Kira as Shizuka, presently in its mobile suit mode, fired off its shoulder mounted 73F Kai high beam cannons and destroyed two Windams. "I'm sending Bishamon over to you. Your power level should be low, right?"

Kira nodded as the power panel on Strike Rouge was showing that the energy level is at a dangerous level. While Kira could still fight using Strike Rouge's beam swords, he would be at a disadvantage.

Shizuka continued fighting with its opponents while the WASP flew toward Strike Rouge. Because the WASP unit was only designed to be controlled by Shizuka, Cagalli put it on autopilot, hoping that it would arrived at Kira's mobile suit safely. However, a beam shot passed through its left wing and it began to crash.

"Kira…" Cagalli said, alarmed.

"It's okay, I'll get it" he replied as he engaged Strike Rouge's boosters to chase after damaged weapon platform.

Realizing that their potential quarry was at a disadvantage, his two pursuers also continued their chase, along with some units that broke off from attacking Shizuka.

Kira narrowed his eyes as Strike Rouge evaded the beam shots. Meanwhile, missiles were also trailing him as more and more beam shots were being fired. Despite that, Kira maintained his speed. "Come on, let me make it on time…" His eyes then changed as his SEED factor was activated.

Twenty minutes later, onboard the shuttle, Vince wondered out loud while checking the radar, "I wondered whether Lady Cagalli and Mr. Yamato are alright. I know that they're good, but still…" He turned toward Fllay. "Do you think that they're okay?"

The redhead girl was quiet, a calm expression on her face.

Seeing that the captain of the ship was incommunicado, Vince sighed, "You're concerned about them as well, aren't you?"

A whooshing sound caused both of them to look to their right to see Shizuka in its mobile armor mode. Cagalli's face appeared on the communication once more. "I'll be escorting the shuttle to Marianas Trench"

"What about Mr. Yamato?" Vince asked.

"He's okay, but Strike Rouge is heavily damaged" Cagalli answered before muttering about ungrateful brother breaking state of the art weaponries.

The rest of the journey was uneventful and both the shuttle and Shizuka arrived at the pickup point where Terrence was waiting on an island with the intended cargos. After Shizuka transferred the bigger cargos to the shuttle's hold, Cagalli asked to talk to Fllay privately. "You don't seem concerned about Kira just now," she said while eyeing Terrence directing some workers.

"Somehow… I know that he's alright," Fllay answered.

"I see," Cagalli said while remembering about Kira saying something similar. After hesitating, she finally continued, "I know it's a bit too late to ask you this, but you do know about the two of them right?"

A pained look appeared on Fllay's face, forcing her to look away. "Yes. That's one of the reasons as well," she said, implying that Kira and Lacus's relationship was among what caused her to feign not remembering him.

"So what now?"

Fllay closed her eyes, remembering what had transpired between Kira and her the day before. She then thought about her not being able to activate her APEX ability. "Frankly speaking, I don't know"

"Well… at least I do know that I would like to apologize to you for all that I had done" Cagalli said, surprising the other girl in front of her enough to open her eyes. To prove what she said, the blonde then offered her hand.

Her hand was met halfway by another hand whose owner was shedding a tear while smiling warmly. "I would like to apologize as well"

Cagalli could help smiling as well. "But I still consider you as my rival," she then added, not comfortable with her own display of emotions.

Fllay simply nodded.

Ten minutes later, standing by her mobile armour and looking at the shuttle flying off to space, Cagalli felt a calm and gentle sea breeze blowing. She smiled once more, this time for a longer time. Then, despite knowing that no one would see her as they would be too far away, she waved toward the shuttle.

"It's a fine day, isn't it?" she asked herself before getting back into Shizuka.

* * *

1

* * *

**Author's note (16 February 2007)**

1. Happy Chinese Lunar Year to everyone. May the year of the Boar bring about prosperity and abundance.

2. Sorry for not updating for quite some time but I did tell about me not writing for quite some time. It does seem to be longer than the usual stoppage because I uploaded my buffer chapter (Chapter 40) earlier than my scheduled time (15 January). The idea is there, but I can't write due to the fact that my mind was full of stocks and bonds. Although I've finished the paperwork earlier on, it took some time for me to finish this chapter as I always write incrementally, doing around 200-300 words a day.

3. By the way, if anyone missed it, I uploaded chapter 39 a few days before chapter 40, so you might want to check it.


	42. Humanity's unwanted answer

The door to Minerva's bridge opened. Gilbert and his group of commanders entered, greeted by salutes from Minerva's crew. Gilbert nodded as he and the others took their seats.

"Everything is ready, sir," Talia, who stood next to Gilbert said.

He nodded. "Very good. Tell the whole fleet that we will set sail for Azores Islands"

Talia raised her eyebrows in surprise. She and the other ship captains weren't told of the fleet's destination, which was why she'd half expected it to be at Heaven's base. But despite that she didn't voice out her surprise. "Yes sir"

Gilbert put his hand on a map of Graciosa Island which was displayed on the Commander's table. We have no time to lose. Nuclear missiles launched from that island and the rest of the Azores archipelago against Gibraltar would be harder to detect and shot down. And with Carpenteria in a pretty bad shape, we must protect Gibraltar no matter what"

Talia and the other commanders nodded.

"We are here to end this senseless nonsense as soon possible. Please remember that"

"YES!" Everyone chorused.

Raising her hand and turning to the front, Talia commanded, "Malik, set course for latitude 39 degrees north and longitude 28 degrees west"

"Yes, Captain"

Talia then addressed Meyrin. "Notify Jupiter and the combined force to follow suit and move toward the coordinates"

As Minerva moved out of the port followed by a fleet comprising of both ZAFT and rogue Alliance's ships, Gilbert said, "Let's get this over with"

Ten hours later, in Minerva's meeting room, Athrun stood in front of the assembled pilots, few of them in OMNI uniforms, tapping to the bottom item on the board. "So, that concludes our communicating using flares and gestures. Please learn them well as we may enter battle without the help of radio communication as we will be jamming the airwaves. I hope you can brief your flight members about them. So, before we move on, do you have any question?"

There was none.

"Very well, I'll continue on with the mission objectives" A map of a group of islands was displayed on the main screen. "This is Azores group of islands. It had been annexed by LOGOS earlier on and a forward base has been established which we believe will be used to stage an attack on Gibraltar and its neighbours" Few red dots appeared all around the islands, especially those located to the east. "As you can see from the dots, they have established numerous anti-air and anti-ship batteries to prevent us from reaching them"

"How about our submarines?" one of the Alliance flight leaders asked. "We could sneak up on them"

Using a pointer, Athrun traced a semicircle around the eastern islands. "There is a possibility that anti ship and anti submarine mines have been deployed here. Also, as you all know, LOGOS has at its disposal several Forbidden Blues and Deep Forbiddens. That problem leads us to our first objective. The first, second and third flight will provide aerial cover to the marine engineering corps and its escorts as they will try to chart a safe passage through the mines" He then pointed toward the most eastern island. "Our second objective is to penetrate and destroy their anti-air and mobile suits nets on the islands. The fourth up to the twelfth will protect thirteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth as they destroy the fixed emplacement. Seventeenth up to twenty-second flight will flank in from the south while the next six flights will flank in from the north"

"Sir, if I may ask a question," a ZAFT flight leader said while raising his hand, "Why do we utilize pincer strategy instead of a direct attack?"

"Although we have some information on their capability, it is not enough to determine what their current strength, what weapons and mobile suits they will be using. That's why it is hoped that by doing so, we can draw some of the fires away from the main fleet. And the final objective that needs to be carried out is to protect the fleet and this would carried out by the remaining four" After giving the map a look to check whether all have been covered, Athrun turned toward the assembled pilots. "Is there any questions before we wrap up our session?" After waiting a few seconds, he continued, "So, that's it for our briefing session. Further information on individual tasks would be given to each section leaders"

As the flight leaders got up to leave the room, Heine looked at them and signalled Athrun.

"Shinn, Rey and Luna, please stay in this room" Upon remembering that he left someone, he added to a pilot in a red uniform, "You too, Calvin"

Finally, there were only six of them inside the room. Heine got up from his seat and turned toward the pilot named Calvin. "Welcome to Minerva"

Calvin, a 20 year-old pilot with cropped brown hair smiled shyly and said, "Thank you"

Athrun turned toward the rest of them. "Calvin would be assigned to Gaia"

Rey, followed by Shinn and Luna shook hand with the newcomer. "Glad to meet you"

After shaking hand with Calvin, Shinn turned toward Athrun and Heine. "So, why are we here? No disrespect to Calvin, but we could have done the introduction a bit later"

Heine gave a look at Athrun before answering the question. "Did you wonder why the six of us weren't assigned any particular objective?"

"Now you mention it…."

"We do have an objective," Heine continued, interrupting Shinn. He nodded when his statement was responded with puzzled looks from the four of them. "We will be fighting with their aces"

"Yes!" Shinn said ecstatically.

"They wouldn't be a walk in park, Shinn" Athrun said while the screen showing the map blacked out before showing a video showing a furious battle being waged on. "We have retrieved this from the black box of a mobile suit that went against them"

Everyone looked at the screen and became transfixed with what they saw. The battle, no, the slaughter by the LOGOS pilots totally shocked all of them.

"What the heck…," Shinn uttered

"You took the words out of my mouth," Heine said. "As you can see, their capabilities are exceptional" He then gave a brief glance at Rey before settling his gaze on Shinn. "Intel believes that they're not Extendeds; at least not similar to Stellar's group"

Shinn hung his head. "So, what are they?"

"They're enemies; enemies that we must defeat in order to have peace," Rey said simply.

The rest of the video viewing was done in silence. After it had ended, all of them left the room to make the necessary preparation except for Athrun and Lunamaria. The FAITH member gave a concerned look at her. "Are you okay, Luna?"

"Yes," Luna answered as she tried to hide her clammy hands.

Athrun turned his attention toward the then empty screen. "We will arrive at the islands tomorrow morning. After the attack by LOGOS, I doubt that the Chairman would even think of negotiating with it. Looks like there's no stopping the battle anymore," he closed his eyes. "Although right now I'm still praying for a miracle to happen. Looks like I'm still a foolish man for having such hope" He began to walk toward the door. "Have a good rest, Luna"

"Athrun?"

Athrun turned toward her questioningly.

Closing her eyes and fisting her hands tightly, Luna said in a small voice. "I'm scared" Suddenly, she felt herself being encircled by a pair of strong arms, causing her to open her eyes in surprise.

"It is okay, Luna" he said as he rocked her body gently. "Let's try our best tomorrow"

"How do you manage to stay brave at all time?" she whispered.

"I'm as scared as you are, or even more, Luna. Even now I'm still trembling from what we saw just now"

"But you're still calm"

He released his hold on her slowly. "It's easy to forget that fear because I have another one that's stronger"

"You have another one that you fear more?"

Putting his hands on her shoulder, he smiled. "Yes. I fear that I can't see you smiling anymore" Realizing what he had said, Athrun blushed and turned away. "Um… and others' as well. Err… err…," he sighed, turned back toward her and put a hand on her cheek, "that's why all of us must try our best to come home safely tomorrow"

Luna felt a joyous smile creeping into her face after hearing his confession. "Thank you"

He turned back to smile once more before leaving the room.

Alone in the briefing room, Luna began to think about what will happen the next day, whether the battle that they will fight would truly pave the way for peace. But, maybe the battle would be for nothing; only bringing incessant deaths and destruction. But whatever the case, there would be so many empty bunks and rooms after the battle. The sad thing was that all of them who would lose their life wouldn't be able to say goodbye to their loved ones face to face because of the secrecy surrounding the current mission. All they can do was to prepare video recordings that would only be sent to their families in case of their deaths. That thought brought up the question about Athrun. He had lost his family in the first war and probably wouldn't prepare any video recording to leave behind as he didn't have anyone important. _'Except… maybe her' _Luna thought, feeling slightly jealous as she realized that there would be no way for Athrun to simply get over about the Princess of ORB just like that. After all, Representative Attha was a real swan princess, compared to her who was more like a real ugly duckling.

Luna let out a long breath. She was getting sidetracked by unimportant things again. Although she really liked Athrun and he did seem to return her feelings a bit, it was no excuse for her to act as if they were a confirmed couple, at least not yet. As such, she had no right to be jealous. Rather than thinking about Athrun and Representative Attha's relationship, perhaps it was better for her to go and settle a little problem that she had been putting on hold for quite some time. Luna returned to her room and lied on the bed, hands behind her back as she waited in the dark.

Normally, she could fall asleep easily in her current position; however the need to solve the problem prevented her from doing so. Luna remained in the dark, sorting her thoughts and what she wanted to say when the time comes.

An hour later, the door opened and Meyrin entered. The younger sister than noticed that she wasn't alone in the room and switched room's light. "Um… Sis?"

Luna looked at her younger sister and slowly began turning her head away as what she planned to say suddenly disappear in thin air.

Meyrin entered the room and let the door slide close behind her. She then pulled a chair and sit next to Luna's bed. "Sis… Are you mad at me?"

"Why do you think I'm mad at you?" Luna asked in a quiet voice.

"You haven't been talking to me for a few days already," Meyrin said while playing with her hair nervously.

"It's pretty normal"

"No, it's not!" Meyrin insisted. "We are siblings and stay in the same room, for heaven's sake!"

Luna got up, red faced. "So? What's wrong with us not talking to each other? We're in the middle of the war!"

"Yes we are, but we always made time to talk! You know how much I…" Meyrin's speech died when her older sister suddenly moved forward and engulfed her in a tight hug.

"Don't, Meyrin" Luna said, almost pleading. "That's enough. Please"

Meyrin was confused by what was being said, but didn't ask as she felt something wet seeping through her uniform.

"How could you do that, Meyrin?" Luna asked slowly, straining to keep her voice even. "How could you do that?"

"What do you mean?" Meyrin asked back. She could guess where the conversation was heading, and didn't like it.

Taking a deep calming breath to prevent sobs from escaping, the older sister then said, "I know that you like him as well as I do; yet it was you who told him where I was at that time. I feel that you basically palm him off to me"

"Sis, I don't think Athrun would appreciate you referring to him as if he's some item that can be passed around," Meyrin said, trying to change the topic.

"Come on, Meyrin! You know what I mean. You made such a big sacrifice for my sake. So, of course I'm very angry, but I'm angry with myself!"

Meyrin hugged her sister back, touched by what her older sister said.

They remained in that position for quite some time until Meyrin began again, "I guess I don't want to visit you in the seminary"

"Meyrin…" Luna growled as she quickly understood that her younger sister was teasing about her remark that day.

Meyrin giggled, "But it did the job, didn't it? And I didn't consider it as a sacrifice at all, Sis,"

"But… but…"

"There you go again, this time sounding like a tugboat. I think that after this horrible war ends, you should find a job as sound effects person"

"Why not a voice actress?" Luna asked.

Despite not being able to see her older sister's face, Meyrin knew that she was definitely pouting. "Not sexy enough," she said.

Luna swatted Meyrin's shoulder half-heartedly. "That's mean of you, Sis"

"Um… I think we got this role wrong. I'm supposed to be the younger sister here…"

The older Hawked sister laughed. "You know, I'm lucky to have an angel as my younger sister"

Meyrin smiled. "Well, that's my script. I can still remember the time when my sister spend most of her time with me when I was lonely"

"That's because she know that her loaded younger sister will bribe her with ice cream sundae afterwards"

"Hey! You cheated!" It was Meyrin's turn to swat her sister playfully. "But then again, I'm really glad you were there all those time and you're here with me even now"

"Me too" Luna said as she tightened her hold a bit.

As they remained in their current positions, Meyrin wondered whether the conversation they had was the kind of talk people had before they go to battle. Even as she could feel her sister's body in her encircled arms, she began to fear for her sister's life as she would be at the frontline. Despite the two of them being involved in numerous fights before, the next day's fight would be very fierce as the two opposing sides would fight to determine the humankind's future. To be sure, Meyrin herself was at danger, but at least she knew that Minerva as the flagship that carries the ZAFT's chairman would be stationed away from the actual battlefield. She fervently hoped that Luna would come back safely.

As if hearing her sister's unvoiced concern, Luna said assuredly, "I will try my best, sister"

"Because of Athrun?" Meyrin teased.

"No, because of you"

"Come on, Sis… you're fibbing…"

"That's the truth, Meyrin. Of course, I would be lying if I say that I do my best only for you" Luna held her sister at arms length before hugging her again. "Thank you, Meyrin. I love you"

"I love you too, Sis," Meyrin replied.

At the same time, in another location onboard the same ship, Rey Za Burrel starred at his companion from the corner of his eyes with a bit of distrust before turning his attention to the front. "You called us?" he asked a man who was seated in front of the two of them. "How can we help you, Mr. Chairman?"

Gilbert had a troubled look on his face. "I need the two of you to carry out a special mission for me" He wrung his fingers together in a thoughtful pose. "Well, as the two of you know, our mission is to capture members of LOGOS" While Gilbert would want to put all of them on trial, it might prove problematic. He wasn't sure that enough evidence could be gathered in order to prosecute them. Even if that hurdle could be overcome, the trial would certainly take years to conclude, as great care would have to be taken in order to show that the trial would be fair and just. It was easier to kill them in the middle of a fight. "However, I personally feel that their high ranking members shouldn't be left alive because it would be tremendous risks to the whole world"

"Scums like that shouldn't be allowed to live," Rey said

His companion's expression was neutral.

The ZAFT's Chairman sighed. "Frankly speaking, I'm quite reluctant to order for their execution on sight, but it seems that we don't really have much choice. The world's peace is of outmost importance. It's not that I don't trust Athrun, but rather…"

"We understand," Rey finished for him. "Since Athrun is being watched by PLANTs, it's not proper for him to carry out the order"

Gilbert gave a small smile. While Athrun was a capable soldier, he still maintained his moral and integrity, something unheard of among war veterans. So having him killing unarmed POWs would be out of questions. Besides, Athrun was playing the role of the ZAFT's hero perfectly and Gilbert wouldn't want to jeopardize it. Therefore, someone else would have to do the dirty work. "So can I leave the matter in your capable hands, Rey, Heine?"

* * *

An Alliance officer was breathing heavily as he ran toward the Operations room at Disraeli, the Alliance base established on the Graciosa Island. When he entered the room, he saw that Djibril and his colleagues were playing pool. Annoyance filled him as he wondered why those bureaucrats could be so relaxed when they were about to engage in a full scale battle. Deciding that it would better if his thought remain unvoiced, he announced, "Lord Djibril, our spy networks told us that ZAFT's fleet, along with the renegade Alliance ships in Gibraltar is moving toward here"

Djibril who was about to hit the ball stopped. "Couldn't you wait until I make the shot first, stupid fool?"

"Sorry sir," the officer said apologetically.

He made a dismissive gesture. "You may go now"

The officer saluted and left.

The LOGOS's continued hitting the last ball into the side pocket to end the game. He and a few more LOGOS member who were playing the game stored their cues on the rack.

As everyone moved toward the counter where their liquors were being served, Djibril said, "Well, gentlemen. It seems that Gilbert is aware of our position here"

"So what are we going to do now, Djibril?"

"It's simple, really. We'll just fight them here. It would be easier for us as they wouldn't have the support of their base's fixed installations"

"Will it be okay?" another one asked. "We don't have any Destroy unit left. To make things worse, our bid to capture Attha and used her to get Shizuka failed"

"I wouldn't worry much," Djibril answered before taking a sip from his wine. "After all, our Duel, Buster," he paused to smirked, "and that other one should be more than enough to handle anything that patchwork army and its slaves will throw at us"

"You're sure had planned ahead," the first one said.

"Of course. ZAFT and its slaves would be surprised when they try to attack us" Djibril set the glass on a nearby table. "They will realise that fighting against us is the worst mistake they'll ever make"

"Gilbert is really rallying the people to go against us," an elderly looking LOGOS member commented in a concerned voice. "And so far, he has been quite successful"

"That's because he realised what we have known for ages; people want someone to control them," Djibril scoffed.

"He really wanted to end our domination?" another one asked.

"Don't make me laugh. Despite his sweet sounding rhetoric, Gilbert's only interested in taking over our position"

Hours later, alarm blared throughout Disraeli as Condition Red was announced. Despite it still being dark, most of the soldiers were already up, as they had expected their enemies to arrive at the islands. A confident man entered the Operation room with confident stride. He looked around the room to see that the other senior LOGOS members were already there, along with the Joint Chief of Staff. "How's the situation?" he asked.

The Joint Chief of Staff gestured toward the main screen which was displaying Alliance and ZAFT ships with their cannons at ready. "As you can see, their fleet is on the east side"

Putting his hands behind him, Djibril asked, "And they haven't attacked yet?"

"No. We have received an ultimatum to surrender from them a few minutes ago" the other man said.

"How about our preparation?"

"All have been completed, as per your order"

Djibril nodded. "Good"

"What should we should we do, Djibril?" someone asked.

"Reply, of course"

"We surrender to them?"

Djibril merely laughed.

Meanwhile, in a jungle somewhere else on the island, inside an enclosed cockpit of a mobile suit, a pair of eyes was watching the screen booting up.

MOBILE SUIT OPERATION SYSTEM

**/// Version NV9-N899 ///**

**G** ressorial  
**U **nilateral  
**N** euro-linked  
**D** ominating  
**A **rmour,  
**M** echanised

**A.C.C.U.R.S.E.D**

Few seconds later, doors to an underground hangar began to open as a mobile suit began to emerge slowly from the darkness. It sported two 800mm calibre Scylla II beam cannons, each mounted on its shoulders; the configuration was obviously inspired by Calamity, despite it bearing similarities with another mobile suit. A Uxiel beam rifle hung at the weapon compartment located at each side of its hips. Similar to its LOGOS brethrens, it had camouflage colour scheme; the use of red Phase Shift configuration, coupled with black stripes lent an intimidating aura to it.

The 19 meters high lone mobile suit began to walk up the shore, stopping just before a clearing. Inside the cockpit, its pilot was looking at the screen showing the combined force of ZAFT and its OMNI allies with full of unrestrained hate. His hands then entered some commands and triangles began to form on targets nearest to the LOGOS base as the onboard computer began targeting them. Once the computer stopped acquiring new targets, the pilot snorted and pressed a button. The mobile suit then began transforming, its body parts relocating. It first began to crouch as claws from the legs and hands dug into the ground, immobilizing the mobile suit but at the same time forming a more stable base for it. The Scylla II cannons moved nearer as its head moved out of the way. Once the transformation had been complete, the mobile suit had transfigured into a giant cannon.

It then unleashed massive volleys, its big red beam destroying along its path.

Djibril watched the explosions on the screen and then turned toward other LOGOS members, smirking.

"This is our answer"

* * *

1

* * *

**Author's note (25 February 2007)**

1. Finally, I get to write about Lunamaria and Meyrin's relationship. That feels so good to do. While I'm still going to stick with Athrun x Luna (Sorry, Zidane and others. Besides, I'm more focusing on Luna and Meyrin rather than Luna and Athrun in the first place), Meyrin would have a better prominence as her own person, rather than the one behind Athrun. That means more flexibility for me to write about her.

2. I know that I did mention earlier on that there will be no more new mobile suit but then I think, what the heck, just slap LOGOS with a trio as well. So,we see another LOGOS mobile suit in action, with different function than Buster and Duel. After all, it's better than I just put five Destroy into the story.

3. Looks like this chapter is a bit early, but do expect the other one to be on time, say... 15 March?


	43. Bloodied chess board

Everyone at Minerva's bridge was shocked by the sudden attack coming from the island. There was a red beam; two seconds later ships began to explode. As the explosions began to subside, it could be seen a widespread panic was prevalent among the ZAFT and Alliance ships. There were some ships that began to move out of formation, despite repeated calls not to do so. The attack was completely unexpected, especially since the ultimatum has just been delivered.

"Five of our allies' ships were hit, together with three of our surface craft," Meyrin announced from her station.

"Tell the fleet to remain on course and launch all mobile suits," Talia ordered. "Get Athrun and others airborne"

"Wait, Captain," Gilbert said. "Can you ask for just Athrun and Heine to be launched?"

Talia gave Gilbert a brief questioning glance before rescinding her order. "Launch Infinite Justice, Destiny and Crusader. Tell the others to standby,"

Gilbert watched the map being displayed on the tactical display in front of him. It was possible that the attacker was an APEX carrier; that would present him with a perfect opportunity to see how a SEED carrier fare against such pilot.

The main screen showed another red beams cutting through few of ZAFT's and its allies' ships, annihilating them.

"Trace the source of the shots" the Minerva's captain said.

Meyrin did as she was told and the main screen then began focusing on an object on the main island. It was a cannon with red and black camouflage color scheme. "According to its trajectory, it's… it's aiming straight for us!" she cried out in alarm.

Then the cannon fired its combined Scylla II cannon at Minerva. The shot would have hit the bridge and obliterated it, armored bunker notwithstanding, if not for the fact that something moved to intercept it. Minerva's main screen was overwhelmed by the object and everyone couldn't see what was happening. However, there was a loud crash and the bunker shook a bit.

"IS EVERYONE ALL RIGHT?" Athrun's slightly garbled voice echoed through the speakers.

"What happened?" Talia asked.

Inside his cockpit, Athrun straightened his helmet using his right hand while checking his mobile suit's status. When he moved in front of Minerva's bridge to block the shot using Justice's own MX2002 beam shield, he didn't expect the shot to be so powerful. "Sorry, I miscalculated and caused Justice to crash against Minerva when I blocked the shot," he said to Minerva while shifting Justice's main camera to zoom in on the shooter. The screen showed that the perpetrator was transforming into a mobile suit. When the change was complete, Athrun felt his heart constricted.

"Aegis…" Heine's voice trailed over the communication line, confirming what Athrun was dreading to say himself.

Despite the obvious differences, there was no mistaking that the mobile suit looked like Aegis. The clone seemed to notice that he was looking at it, and turned to face Justice, as if taunting it. Athrun wondered why it was acting so when he saw a speck to his 10 o'clock. "HEINE!"

"Got it!" Heine said as Crusader moved toward the indicated position. He saw a flash from the place and instantly moved between Minerva and the thing, its shield raised. A second later, a shell hit the shield and exploded harmlessly. Heine then activated Crusader's Phoenix Tail Whip until it glowed red and sped toward his adversary. When he got close, he discovered that it was the 'Dark Buster', aiming one of its rifles at Minerva. But Heine's timely arrival and his flogging Crusader's heated Phoenix Tail forced Buster to move away. "That damned Aegis is just a decoy for Buster to take a pot shot at Minerva," he continued as Crusader and Buster were facing off each other cautiously.

"Oh, that's great. We have Dark Buster and Damned Aegis. So where's Dread Duel?" Shinn, who had just launched in Destiny asked rhetorically.

Before anyone could make a comment, Meyrin announced, "Incoming missile barrage!"

Hundreds of 'flagpoles', the term being used to refer to white smoke trails being left behind by missiles, could be seen coming from the Graciosa Island, along with telltale artillery flashes. Although the combined fleet fired their CIWS to shoot down the missiles and cannon shells, some of them got through and hit few ships and submarines. After the first wave barrage ended however, most of the remaining ships were still intact.

"Return fire," Gilbert commanded.

The combined fleet retaliated just as the LOGOS fleet was firing its second barrage. The sky was littered with projectiles and their deadly loads. Meanwhile, both sides began launching all of their mobile suits and skirmish began taking place in sea and air. During this exchange, Dread Duel appeared, leading a squadron of Windams and Daggers to shoot down mobile suits that have just been launched from ZAFT and Alliance ships before they could retaliate. Shinn saw it and engaged Destiny's Wing of Light towards it.

"Shinn," Athrun called out in vain. Shinn was as impulsive as ever. He then contacted Minerva, "Mr. Chairman, in light of the current situation, I would like to suggest for Legend to guard the ship while Gaia and Impulse to lead our mobile suits," Truth be told, he would prefer for Impulse to be given the guard detail rather than leading the attack as Lunamaria would be exposed to smaller risk. But there was a probability that the enemy might try another attack on Minerva and it would be better for a more powerful mobile suit to protect it.

If that happen, he wasn't sure that Impulse would be more than adequate to handle the task of protecting the ship. Besides, while Legend was more powerful than Impulse, it was ill-suited to fight against naval target, something that Impulse could do pretty well since Lunamaria had configured Impulse to use the Sword Silhoutte. It seemed that Rey had realized that part also, as Athrun could see that Legend was carrying a bazooka in place of its normal beam rifle in case the enemy tried to attack from underwater.

There was another solution that he had thought about; getting Minerva to move away from the battlefield. However, doing so would have undesirable effect on the troop's moral, defeating the purpose of it being there. "Also, it would be better if Jupiter move to the front of Minerva to provide support," Athrun suggested to Gilbert.

Gilbert looked to his left side for a moment, seeming to talk to someone else before turning back to Athrun and nodded. "The commanders agreed that your suggestions are sound. We will follow your suggestions" Despite what he said, the Chairman felt a bit peeved at the situation as both Heine and Rey wouldn't be able to carry out their order. But he supposed it couldn't be helped. The enemy had gained the tactical advantage of the field and has initiated a 'check', so it couldn't be helped that the bishop and the rook had to be deployed to protect the king, while the knight move on to trap the enemy. Hopefully, the two pawns that will move to the middle of the board would be able to breach the enemy's barrier.

As Jupiter moved forward, its twin linear catapults began launching GOUFs. Meanwhile, Legend, Impulse and Gaia were already airborne, with the last one using the Guul air platform to keep afloat in the air.

"Lunamaria, I leave the rest to both of you," Athrun said.

"How about you?"

Athrun had already set his sight on the so-called Damned Aegis. "I will keep him busy,"

As if understanding Athrun's intent, the red and black mobile suit engaged its boosters and approached Justice. The speed of its movement had surprised the FAITH member at he didn't recall Aegis being capable of unassisted flight. Meanwhile, a flight of GOUFs that has been launched approached Aegis from both flanks, in a maneuver that tried to limit it being able to attack them. Before they could attack, Aegis landed on one of the Alliance's gunboats with a force so strong the both of them sank underwater.

Initially, Athrun was perplexed by what Aegis' pilot wanted to do. Then understanding came to him when he saw the GOUFs moving closer to the spot. "WITHDRAW!" he called out to them. "IT'S A TRAP"

Then there was a massive explosion from underwater and water sprayed from the spot like a geyser, spraying everything nearby. The GOUFs covered their main cameras with their hands. It was an instinctive action by their pilots, the way a person would cover his eyes from foreign objects entering them. It was a fatal mistake to make as Aegis appeared from the sea directly behind one of them. A beam sword then pierced through the GOUF's chest before being withdrawn back. The mobile suit, its pilot died instantly, began its descent, exploding before it reached the sea surface. Aegis then turned toward another GOUF slowly and deliberately, not unlike a tiger that was about to pounce on its prey. The other two GOUF pilots, realizing that their friend was in danger, used heat rods on Aegis's hands. The move succeeded in stopping it.

The GOUF pilots' jubilation was short lived when Aegis suddenly pulled its hands toward its body, flinging the two toward it. Then, it quickly withdrew its Uxiel beam rifles and crossed its arms so that the beam in its right hand was facing its left and vice versa. It fired its rifles when the two were just a few meters from it, with each shot hit the cockpit area.

There was a loud explosion. When the explosion had subsided and the wreckages began dropping into water, 'Damned Aegis' was still in one piece, its Phase Shift armor protecting it from the explosion. It shook off a piece of heat rod still attached to its left hand and began to move toward the remaining GOUF slowly. As if under a spell, the GOUF's pilot didn't react although the ships nearby tried to slow down the other mobile suit by firing their shells at it. Their shots exploded harmlessly against Aegis' body as it drew its beam swords and activated them, the red beam moving out of the emitters to their peak length.

The GOUF's pilot was still immobilized in fear inside his cockpit.

Before Aegis could attack, something knocked the GOUF out of the way as beam fires nearly riddled Aegis hadn't it block them with its shield. It turned its attention toward the source of shot only to see another red mobile suit that was going down to the sea surface, engaging its thrusters to reduce the descend. The Aegis' pilot saw the thing that had knocked the GOUF out of the way changed course and flew to dock behind the newcomer to stop it from descending. He smiled, golden eyes blazing as he moved Aegis high up before opening the link between the two of them. "Justice. May I know your name?"

"I am Athrun Zala of ZAFT. And you?" the communication speaker chirped as Athrun's face was on one of the screen.

"Killer. Your killer" Aegis transformed back into its cannon mode and fired its cannon at Justice.

The firing of the Aegis weapon was witnessed few thousand kilometers north from the battle field, on a screen in front of an operator. "Man, look at that weapon firing!"

"Yeah, Greg" another man next to him agreed as he peered from his own station. "State of the art Cordie killing machine. Seems like Aegis to me"

"GAT-X828 Calamity Aegis. The third one after GAT-X808 Buster MKII and GAT-X818 Duel Kage" The eight hundred series were mobile suits designed for a special detachment of Phantom Pain that specialized in anti-ZAFT assault missions. It was initially thought the mobile suits were piloted by Extendeds but from the way they were fighting, it was impossible. Propaganda videos showed to illustrate how they will bring about the 'pure and world' revealed that they were stable and could fight for a long time in a battle. Sadistic and a bit suicidal but stable nonetheless. "I think we will win this battle,"

"Yeah, but still the higher ups are making me feel naked, leaving this base with few ships and outdated Dags. I mean, what happen if they attack here?"

"No one will attack Heaven's Base," Greg scoffed.

"Yeah, and my mother's screwing a Cordie to get me,"

"The only thing that can happen is they drop in on us, and if that happens, we can just Nibelung them out of existence. You know.."

"Hey you two!" another voice, more authoritative called out to them. "What are you doing?"

The two stood up with Greg switching his screen to display the radar screen once more. "Er… nothing, just doing our work," he said as he and his companion looked at their superior, missing a red dot flashing on the radar a few times before disappearing.

While the two had been reprimanded for watching the ongoing fight, in a place elsewhere, the group of people assembled there solely for the purpose of watching the fight. While their eyes were transfixed to the screens detailing the fight from reporters covering the event, there were few more screens showing infrared, satellite image and the current estimated numbers of ships, mobile suits and other weapons of war of both the EA-ZAFT coalition and LOGOS.

As he raised a warm cup of coffee to his lips, Jacques wondered whether what battle he was watching was any different from televised golf games he loved to watch before the war started. Both were broadcasted to the public and they also have their own statistics regarding the battle, something he wryly noted as some of the statistics from the broadcast were more accurate than the Eurasian Federation's own. Beside that, both also had half-assed commentators that attempt to explain everything that was happening to the audience. The only real difference that he could notice was that the current broadcast didn't stop to have 'some messages from our sponsors'. Joking matter aside, the fact that the press was allowed to cover it showed that ZAFT's PR machinery was working to milk the battle as much as it could. Jacques then turned toward a potbellied man who was smoking a cigar. "What do you think about this, Mr. President?"

"I think ZAFT would win this one,"

He rolled up his eyes in annoyance. If he wanted such answer, he would have had asked his five-year old grandson and the boy would have given a better answer.

"You know, this battle looks like a giant chessboard," Ivanov, sitting two chairs away from him commented. "And you do know how Mr. Chairman likes his game to be grand"

"What do you think of the balance of power?" someone else asked.

"I think despite the surprise the LOGOS pulled on the ZAFT, the latter is handling it well. What do you think, pard'ner?" Ivanovs said while emphasizing the last word.

Jacques raised his cup again. The man Ivanov was addressing, Eric Stewart, came from North Atlantic, somewhere south, he remembered. A high ranking officer that served as their double agent before being transferred to Eurasia when his cover was blown. His providing the technical data on GAT project before the first war catapulted Eurasian's own CAT into earlier completion. Despite that, Jacques couldn't really trust him completely, as his own search managed to uncover the fact that the man was a triple agent, working for Terminal. Not that he minded, as the man had been acting as an unwitting but very useful liaison to Clyne. Besides, he rather liked the man.

"Hmm… it looks like we're the only pawns left out of the field, right, Comrade?" the man said as he throw the question to Jacques.

"It seems so," Jacques answered, "along with ORB and some inconsequential nations"

"Why didn't we join up with ZAFT?" the president asked. "We would have greater influence over its action,"

"Yes, Mr. President," another added a bit sardonically, "perhaps then we can choose whether our ships are good for exploding mines or as shields for its fleet"

Despite his title, the President didn't get much of respect from even his own cabinet due to the fact that he was supportive of ZAFT's Chairman; too supportive.

"Anyway, even if we join the fray, we'll be mere pawns and would not have as influence as Mr. President wants, which is of course good for our motherland" Ivanov said in an attempt to diffuse the situation further. "Continuing on with the chess game example just now, all of you do know that the value of pieces in the later part of the game will increase. Thus, a pawn would be more than just a foot soldier; it can be knight, bishop, rook and queen, or it can be the one that forces checkmate on the opponent's king"

"I get what you're saying about us, but I still don't get it why we must waste our resources to keep ORB from participating" The woman who asked the question was a home minister; it was her job to focus on getting more resources for domestic consumption and for her it was a sin for them to be wasting their time to be helping a nation that didn't seem thankful for what they had done.

"The more pawns left on the chess field in the later part of the game, the more enemy's movements would be restricted," Jacques said while setting his coffee cup on the table.

"I think Gil' and 'Bril realizes this as much as we do, but unfortunately for him, today's battle would put a bit of strain on both forces, no matter the victor," Eric said.

"And why is that?" someone asked.

He gestured to another screen that showed a broadcast from a television network sympathetic to LOGOS. "As you can see, this is being televised, so both armies would refrain from using their super weapon. ZAFT couldn't fire their positrons for the fear that LOGOS would detonate their CYCLOPS or nukes while our 'Lord'," Eric said while emphasizing the last word scathingly, "wouldn't pull the trigger first because then it will lose support from North Atlantic,"

"Battle of the ratings I suppose," Ivanov said. "Not that I care if he pull the trigger. Unlike last time, there's none of our people at the base,"

"So," the president said, "The battle would depend on their mobile suits?"

Jacques shifted his attention to a screen linked to a reconnaissance satellite. Even the details were small, he could still see the small trails of energy being emitted by a mobile suit as it flew toward another one at high speed.

Shinn gritted his teeth as Destiny's high speed attack didn't find its mark. Dread Duel simply moved out of Arondight's way. He knew that it wasn't because of Destiny's Wing of Light system's deficiency; he had gone through the simulation and found out that it gave great boost to his mobile suit. Even in his heightened awareness and reaction didn't help. While he had thought that Duel was as fast as Destiny wasn't correct as few clashes between Destiny and it proved that it wasn't the case. Duel somehow managed to block or sidestep the attacks at the very last moment. Whoever that piloting the Dread Duel was a very good pilot. In fact, Shinn secretly wondered whether the pilot was a psychic for being able to predict his moves. Despite that he couldn't shake off his annoyance. "Damn you! Don't you realise that LOGOS is just using you for its own vile purpose? In their eyes, you're nothing but tool!" he shouted over the communication line, tuning it according to the transmission code gotten from Gaia when he returned Stellar to Alliance.

He didn't really expect an answer but a sultry woman's voice replied as a female pilot's face emerged on the screen, "Oh, really?"

"Yeah!" Shinn growled. "Look at what they put you and the other Extendeds through!"

"My dear Coordinator," beam bayonets extended from Duel's both hands and it tried to stab Destiny by punching at it, "I'm not an Extended, nor I am treated as such,"

Destiny blocked the stab using its Arondight anti-ship beam sword. "Then you joined the war just to kill?"

"Actually, I joined the war as a medical assistant; but I suppose it changes along the way," Duel tried to stab using the other hand.

The second stab was caught by Destiny's hand. "Your place is not here; you're supposed to save lives, not kill, damnit!"

After kicking to put the distance between the two mobile suits, its pilot replied, "All right, I'll retreat,"

"What?!" Shinn exclaimed, not believing what he heard.

"Since you asked me nicely, I can't refuse. But I'll only retreat after I get rid of that Chameleon bastard"

"Chameleon bastard?" Shinn asked before he realized that the pilot was referring to Impulse, since it was the only ZAFT's mobile suit that could change weapon and Shift Phase armor on the go. "You want to kill Impulse?"

Duel attacked using its twin beam swords which was met by Destiny's own. "I need to thank the pilot properly for making me who I am today"

"Huh? I don't understand"

"It's a long story," Duel's pilot said while the two mobile suits exchange attacks. "But to make it short my father was killed by the Chameleon in the Indian Ocean,"

Shinn managed to choke his gasp before it escaped his lips.

"My father and I, we're just a couple of military medical personnel stationed in the Indian Ocean. Well, we are trained pilots as but we mostly pilot helis and stuff" A shot from Duel's two 57mm beam rifle singed Destiny's left leg

Destiny retaliated by throwing its beam boomerang and managed to hit one of the rifles.

Duel released the damaged rifle, which immediately exploded, while keep firing the remaining rifle. "Then one day, Chameleon came in and started to attack the base. I told my father to leave the place, but he didn't as he was tending to numerous patients. Besides, he told me that ZAFT wouldn't attack civilians building. Five minutes later, his hospital blew up with a large bang"

The mobile suit reached for an open compartment on its left hip to get three Mk315 "Stiletto" rocket-propelled anti-armor penetrators and threw them at a trio of GOUFs that tried to ambush it from the right side. The Stilettos' aims were dead-on as ambushers were disposed of immediately.

"Where was I before the interruption?"

* * *

1

* * *

**Author's note (9 March 2007)**

1. One of my unexpected early updates, which will probably succeeded by a later update (It wouldn't be updated on April Fool's day as I'll be 'fooled' at that time by my lecturer.

2. I guess this is the first time I'm doing a totally seamless chapter, i.e. without any breakage at all. Also, I'm experimenting with the story's summary that offered a part of the current chapter, but is not written in the chapter. If you have any comments and ideas regarding these two, please let me know. I would love to know about your opinion.

3. So, we have a trio of 'Damned Aegis' (heavy beam weaponry), 'Dread Duel' (close range) and 'Dark Buster' (hyper range attack) fighting against Infinite Justice and company. I'm planning for this battle to span around 2-3 chapter (around 9000 words), so more of the fight to be covered in next two chapters.

4. When I planned Duel to make an appearance I somehow would like a woman to pilot it (and this is earlier than Stargazer's pilot) and Buster being piloted by strong man with, someone like an American footballer, probably an African American. To my chagrin and dismay, it seemed like both of them were on the dot, well, except Stargazer Duel's pilot's hair is shorter and Buster's Sham Coza is medium built. But then again, what the heck. It's not that my idea is original either.

5. I would like to borrow an excerpt from Aeriel (a.k.a Marlene), an Invid alien in Robotech: Shadow Chronicle to illustrate the fact that Shinn has to face, "Hatred will only breed more hatred. That is not what we want, all of us".


	44. Turbulence in the Atlantic

As Shinn evaded another attack from Duel's, his mind was racing toward the day where he fought the Alliance in Indian Ocean. The day was fresh in his mind; how could he forget the humiliation he felt when Athrun slapped him for going on a rampage at the half completed base. At that time, he couldn't accept Athrun's reprimand because he was only repaying the bastards for their cruel treatment of the locals. Never mind he shot soldiers who were armed with only rifles despite their weapons had no effect on his mobile suit; he served them instant justice for their sins. Of course, it seemed natural for him to shoot every building in the base perimeter as they were legitimate military target. But it looked that he made a mistake, one that made him similar to that Uzumi bastard that he hated so much.

Blinded by his principles, Shinn had caused deaths of innocent civilians. And thanks to him, ZAFT had to face one more enemy whose intent was on the destruction of Coordinators.

"They sent me to the shrinks because of that" Duel's pilot voice jolted Shinn out of his personal turmoil. "It was there LOGOS assholes noticed my latent potential and offered me a chance at an all-Coordinators-that-I-can-kill buffet"

"You accept to get your revenge,"

"Don't be an idiot," The Duel's pilot said while chuckling.

"Huh?"

"At first I hated the Chame… right, Impulse's pilot. But over time, I realized that it was wrong. In fact, I should be grateful" Duel managed to land a kick to Destiny's hip as the latter blocked its swords.

"What do you mean?" Shinn demanded as Destiny threw a beam boomerang that managed to hit one of Duel's 'horns'.

"From my early years, my father instilled in me the importance of saving life. I labored and toiled to help everyone. At the end of the day, no matter whether the patient is soldier or a civilian, a Natural or a Coordinator, I feel all of my efforts are fulfilled when I see him or her smile in gratitude. It was a wonderful feeling. That pilot, he showed me that my illusionary world was wrong. Ah, he was like an artist that day, painting the earth with blood of his enemies and those who got in the way. Even today, I still can't forget his brutality; his machine stepping on live soldiers… it was a truly a beautiful canvas. The unheeded screams of fear and apology of soldiers away from its unheeding guns was like a sonata of death. And the way it shot everything in sight without a shred of hesitation... the way it shot at the building where my father was… how it simply turned away from the burning building… away from people being burned alive… away from me cradling the still warm body of my father's… away from my anguish… to be doing all of those things easily… it was… beautiful," the Duel's pilot finished, with her voice slightly breaking in the end. It was as if she was feeling sad but at the same time, ecstatic. The mobile suit then turned toward another direction. "Ah, I think I can see Impulse from here"

"What are you going to do to it?"

"It's time for me to say hello… and kill it, in an artful way, of course"

"YOU'RE MAD!"

"Me, mad? Of course. Rational people don't fight in a war; mad people do. And war is where you can see the art of madness and death"

"Like hell I'm going to let you attack Impulse!" Shinn growled as Destiny moved to block Duel's movement. Sparks flew as their swords clashed. He wasn't prepared to let Lunamaria be killed because his own mistake.

"So, you want to hog me to yourself? Tsk, tsk, tsk. How selfish of you"

Before Duel could use its other sword to attack, it was shaken by small tremors as Destiny fired its CIWS at almost point blank. While the bullets ricocheted off Duel's Shift Phase armor harmlessly, the surprised introduced by the attack allowed Shinn to move Destiny away. Even as his honed warrior instinct maneuvered his mobile suit in a counterattack, Shinn felt his heart constricted. To his young mind, the war was supposed to be easy. The bad guys will wear Alliance or ORB uniforms and the good guys would wear ZAFT uniforms. Just like the games he played, the bad guys would attack the innocents and the good guys would swoop in to save the poor people. Maybe a boss fight in the end, but the good guys will win and everyone, sans the bad guys of course, will live happily ever after. But no one told him that war was not a matter of choosing black or white; everything was murky grey and each side would look at their own side as the whitest. Despite that, he tried to assuage his guilty conscience by saying, "For you to be taking other lives because of what happened that day is WRONG!"

"So, what am I supposed to do then?"

Destiny moved away a bit and engaged its Wing of Light. The ZAFT prototype moved toward Duel once more with great speed; the illusions from the projection system made its movements hard to predict. "IT'S DAMN WRONG!" he shouted.

Duel engaged its own thrusters and they moved toward each other at great speed. "Tell me this then… what did you feel when you pressed the trigger that killed them that day? Do you really feel that it's wrong… or do you feel that rush… that excitement?"

The question broke Shinn's concentration for a mere second, but it was enough to cause his attack to miss and the two of them passed by. "How?" He wasn't sure whether he wanted to know how she found out or how she managed to keep up with him.

"Actually, I suspected you to be Impulse's pilot from the very beginning. The style's the same. After all, I see recordingd of Impulse's fight every day and have become somewhat an expert on your fighting style. A fighting style that favors risk and aggression; something you don't expect from a Coordinator."

Shinn saw something falling from Destiny to the ocean below before exploding. To his consternation, his mobile suit was missing its left arm.

"But I'm can take even bigger risk and be more aggressive," A large gash could be seen at Duel's left thigh, exposing the damaged wires and pneumatic controls. "And with this I can still fight"

Quickly recovering from his shock, Shinn quickly launched two more beam boomerangs. In the heat of the battle, Shinn Asuka learned one of the most important lessons regarding war; one that would certainly last throughout his life no matter how long or short it would be. War, no matter what grounds and reasons it was fought on, was simply a vicious cycle.

Meanwhile, in another location, nearer to the islands themselves, one Lunamaria Hawke learned a lesson on war. Currently, she was escorting the fleet that was sweeping the path for mines so that landing crafts could be sent to the main island. While multi-role mobile suits certainly made for the 'glamor' aspect of the war, the truth was that battles could only be won by sending soldiers to capture strategic key points such as bunkers and headquarters. She had seen how the ground troops trained and she was confident that they would be able to do their job. But until the ship carrying them could get close enough to launch the landing craft, the soldiers would only be sitting ducks. It was her job to lead the 'flyboys' and 'flygirls' to protect them. However, as one minesweeper to her left side was hit by a rocket, she wondered whether she was able to handle the heavy responsibility. Still, she maintained her mask of calmness, knowing that it would affect those under her. "Maintain close proximity to our ships," she said as she shot few missiles that were targeted at minesweepers while letting their CIWS handle the rest.

"I'll lead a squadron to clear the beachhead," Calvin's voice chirped through the speaker as Gaia surged forward, followed by eighteen mobile suits.

Lunamaria opened her mouth to object but quickly shut it, knowing that it wasn't in her station to stop him, despite the misgiving that she had. As a professional soldier, she sometime wondered whether it would have been better for ZAFT to have a similar command structure to the one Alliance and ORB had. Despite her having more experience than him, Luna couldn't order Calvin to fall because all ZAFT mobile suit pilots were considered equals in combat. However, her instinct caused her to blurt out a warning, "Wait, the enemy may have traps,"

The warning went unheeded as Gaia and its escorting party moved toward the island.

Lunamaria's fear became true when the first mobile suit was above the beach. Camouflaged anti-air missiles batteries emerged from the sand and fired at them. The ZAFT mobile suits fired their CIWS while trying to evade the missiles. The effort paid as none of the missiles hit them. However, the relief the pilots felt were short-lived as the missiles were just decoys. In their haste to avoid the missiles, the squadron ended up further on the islands and didn't even realize the beam turrets deploying behind them. All of them, Gaia included, were destroyed in less than five seconds. Witnessing the massacre with regret, Lunamaria contacted Minerva. "This is Lunamaria. Gaia and three flights have just been eliminated by beam network at the beach. I repeat, Gaia and three flights have just been eliminated. Will proceed with the escorting duty"

In her opinion, things could only get worse.

But to Djibril who was watching the destruction of the strike team, things couldn't be better. He turned toward the underground command headquarters which was visible through the room's glass window. "Now I'm left wondering why we bother going on with that stupid Lornoke's suggestion to steal that mobile suit. After all, records show that Gaia, Chaos and Abyss really aren't worth our time and efforts," he said before sipping his champagne.

"But you have to admit that we have to thank Gaia current pilot for being an idiot to led his fellow pilots to their doom," someone else commented.

"You're right," another one added. "Independent pilots. Hmpph. It looks like those patchworks soldiers are so full of themselves"

Djibril laughed. "They think that they're so superior to us Naturals that they can fight without proper tactics? How wrong they are. We'll teach them that we have a proper chain of leadership for a reason" To him, freedom without any guidance would amount to chaos. That was why he would crush the wayward Gilbert and prove to everyone in the world that without LOGOS' leadership, there could only be failures and defeat; only glory would be tasted by those who follow LOGOS.

"It would have been better if we had more," the first person said, clearly referring to the three prototypes that were fighting ZAFT's own.

"I don't think it would matter much," Djibril said. "After all, they're more than enough,"

There was a loud rumble and everything shook while the lights dimmed. The whole thing lasted for a few seconds.

"WHAT WAS THAT?" Djibril shouted at the nearby officer.

The man quickly went to check the situation before announcing, "A bunker buster had been dropped directly on us, sir"

"IDIOTS!" Djibril shouted, his voice a mixture of anger and fear. "If this command centre wasn't fortified, I could have been dead! Tell them to shoot everything that comes close"

"Yes sir!"

Jacques and the people with him would have cheered if they had known that an anti bunker bomb nearly killed Djibril. However, their view of the situation was limited to the broadcasts from both sides and the micro satellites that were orbiting above the battlefield, limiting the information they could gather.

"Well, this is interesting," Eric commented. "Never thought I live the day to see ZAFT's butt being kicked.

"Djibril has set the defense well, hasn't he?" Ivanov commented.

"True, but it seems funny to see ZAFT not going all out," Surprisingly, the statement was made by the home minister.

"Why indeed…" Jacques as he tapped his fingers.

A lieutenant entered the room, looking a bit out of breath. "Our reconnaissance satellite in orbit 0651A has been destroyed" He then passed a file to Jacques.

Jacques examined the file and shook his head. "Looks like the attack on the island is just the beginning"

One of the screens changed to show the last thing the satellite had seen before it was destroyed.

"Things will become… lively," the President commented at the picture.

"Yes, and it's about to get even livelier, with our North Atlantic friend's help"

The president stood up, hands on the table. "What are you talking about?"

"Please seat down, Mr. President," Ivanov said.

The man sat again, his eyes glaring at Jacques. "How long have you been working for them?"

Jacques smiled. "Working for them? No, I consider it to be strategic cooperation. To answer your question, after the end of the first war"

"How dare you betray your motherland!" someone, clearly the president's supporter screamed.

"If it wasn't for North Atlantic's help, our crippled industries would be limited to churning out expensive champagne, caviar and vodka after your good friend Mr. ZAFT Chairman," Jacques pointed heavenward, "dropped that big thing from the sky. Who do you think helped us in getting our military production capabilities back online?"

"But they are LOGOS' slaves!" the president spat.

"Slaves that about to attack their masters?" Jacques grinned. "I think not. Like us, they're tired of the wars you politicians wage, and it's time for us soldiers to end it before there's nothing left to save"

There were few whistling sounds and few of the members, including the president, became silent. The soldiers who shot them casually put away their silencer-equipped pistols as if nothing had happened.

Jacques looked at the surviving members' shocked face and smiled soothingly. "Don't worry about them. They're way past their retirement; whereas we, ladies and gentlemen, aren't as lucky and still have a lot of work to do," He then turned toward the lieutenant. "Get me Robinson,"

The said man, dressed in crisply pressed Alliance navy uniform, looked around him to see his people going about their duty professionally in the semi-dark place. While the majority of them were still in early twenties, they had an older look to them, one that can only be gotten from war. He then turned his gaze at the almost transparent display with sixty green triangles surrounding an island filled with many red dots, mentally rehearsing the battle plan that he would execute. If he succeeded, he would certainly earn his name in the military textbook of the next generation; if not, he will be buried in a very large, sophisticated and expensive coffin. _"Well, at least the ship's name is Geronimo, and not named after some pansy-mansy flower grower"_

If someone had suggested to him to ally himself with the Eurasians a few years back, Admiral Mark Robinson would have slugged the person, gender not withstanding. But as he waited for the call, he sardonically noted that not only the two forces were together in bed, they were practically screwing each other on daily basis. Time had really changed, and it was time for a change as well. "Depth?"

"Periscope level," someone announced.

"Good, get that thing up. Get me a visual on the target," he said as he took his seat. "And antennae as well. Maybe our wine-sipping friends would like to greet us bon voyage or something"

Few seconds later, his executive officer announced. "Sir, connection made"

He looked at the woman and nodded. Despite being a Coordinator, she still served with the North Atlantic with loyalty that had impressed him; no mere person could pledge allegiance to someone who was planning to eradicate your own family. It was people like this that had convinced the admiral to carry on with his almost hopeless struggle. "Patch it through, XO"

The screen came to live, showing something that shocked him.

"What the hell?"

"I assure you that despite your prayer, all of us are still in Moscow," Jacques, among those who on the screen said wryly.

Unlike the normal speakers onboard normal ships, the one onboard Geronimo was set to low volume. Submariners had an aversion to being loud.

"For Pete's sake, can't you at least remove them?" Mark said, referring to the dead people he saw on the screen.

"We have no time to waste. After all, they're somebody, you know?"

Mark would have groaned and rolled his eyes at the unintended joke if he wasn't livid with anger. "You practically killed off your people in cold blood, had their bodies there and are acting as if nothing had happened!"

Jacques was quiet for a moment, his frown barely visible on the screen. "Well, I guess we have time before the operation starts. Maybe we can discuss about the nuclear warhead that hit Junius Seven having a 'Made in North Atlantic Federation' on it"

The admiral took a deep breath to calm himself, feeling a bit ashamed for losing his temper. Despite the rather having a rather shady approach of doing things, the Eurasian had been a dependable ally to him. Thus despite having misgiving about what he saw, he realized that he had no business interfering in their matter as they certainly didn't interfere in his. "Sorry, it's just that I find talking in front of dead people very unnerving"

"Very well. I guess we have to apologize for misunderstanding your words as well," Jacques said as Ivanov motioned for someone to remove the dead bodies from their seats. "So, your fleet is in place?"

Mark noted the other man used the word 'your' instead of 'our' despite the assembled fleet being composed of both the North Atlantic and Eurasian vessels. Either the Eurasians really trust him to lead their soldiers, or they trust him to fail and then heap all the blames on him. He would prefer to be on the optimistic side since their actions have been indicating the former. "Just outside their fence, so as to say, with the surface ships way beyond their radar net, but able to strike. We'll commence the operation in T minus fifteen" He saw everyone on the screen exchanged a few words among themselves quietly.

"We have new intel and are forwarding it to you"

As if on cue, his executive officer handed a newly printed paper to him to examine. "Looks like things have changed, either for better or for worse, I can't really say"

"Agreed. And by the way, Admiral, we're seeing 'Dread', 'Dark' and probably 'Donkey' on the television right now. Will we be seeing 'Dorky' and 'Dubious'?"

It took Mark a few seconds to connect the dots. "Fuck"

The Eurasians laughed first, followed by his own crew.

Despite being annoyed by the rather lame joke, he let on a small smile. His people needed such release, no matter how small, he told himself. They had prepared weeks for this operation, knowing very well that it would shape the history of their country and the world. Closing his eyes, he asked, "Do you think it would be successful, this attack?"

"A higher probability with you as the commander"

"And after this?"

Jacques. "Frankly, I don't know. You're together with us in this matter, so what's your opinion?"

"If it wasn't for the Copernicus Tragedy, the unification treaty would have been ratified"

"But perhaps it was for the best as it would take the wars to weed the undesirables, yes?"

Mark nodded. "Probably"

"We'll worry about that later. But I think the Siegel's daughter may be inclined toward her father's work," Jacques said while looking at another man. "So what do you decide to do?" he continued, clearly referring to the attack.

"We'll wait"

Meanwhile, few kilometers from Graciosa Island, Gilbert was doing a waiting of his own, his face resting against the back of his hands in the typical thinking pose. Things didn't bode well for ZAFT and its allies as LOGOS was able to hold against their attack. Perhaps he was a bit over confident in the combined force's ability to take the islands chain being displayed on the map in front of him. After all, normal military doctrine dictates that in order to capture a fortified position, the attacking force's number must be at least four times the number of the defender'. Even he, along with the rest of the military command had made the mistake of thinking that ZAFT's technological edge would render the doctrine obsolete. However it wasn't so. They had forgotten the lesson of the assault on Panama taught them. At that time ZAFT's attacking force found itself being pushed back by the newly introduced Daggers despite having a slightly superior numerical strength.

It was thanks to the Gungnir EMP bombs that ZAFT had been able to change the outcome in their favor. Of course, the enemy had taken the lesson to heart by providing EMP shielding to its mobile suits while ZAFT mistook the victory as a sign that technology was the key to victory.

It seemed that ZAFT's current lesson promised to be costly.

The chairman listened quietly as Athrun's voice came to life on speaker in front of that redhead CIC operator, ordering Shinn to fall back and for Rey to cover him and was surprised that the young firebrand followed it without even a whine of protest. It was obvious that the Zala had earned the boy's respect. However, Gilbert wasn't sure whether the change would be good or bad, but he knew that it wasn't the time to ponder on that. "How's the current situation?"

The commanding officer sitting next to him had a set jaw and a hardened expression. "We have been able to land at Flores and trying to secure the landing site so that our Connecteds can be brought in. Once we're able to do that, we'll launch our artillery strikes from there. The proximity would allow us to fire below their anti air radar net"

Gilbert nodded. Despite the rather optimistic wording the commander used, his tone made it clear that the LOGOS guarding wouldn't really simply roll over and die.

The main screen showed a missile hitting Jupiter's bridge head-on.

"Contact Jupiter at once!" the commanding officer barked.

"On it!" the red head CIC officer said as she tried to establish link with Minerva's sister ship. "Her Captain's dead, and the executive officer is assuming command," she announced a few seconds later while keeping clasping her hand over her earpiece. "Elevation control is damaged as well as the main gun's targeting computer but apart from that everything is functioning,"

A malfunctioned missile landed just a few meters from Minerva's port.

Heine's face appeared on the communication, "SIR, THE ENEMY'S RESISTANCE IS HEAVIER THAN WE EXPECTED" The communication line was severed for a few seconds before resuming, "I HOPE THAT THE COMBAT AREA CAN ENLARGED" He then signed off abruptly.

Gilbert and the ZAFT commanders shared a look. Heine had subtly suggested that Minerva had become a liability and it would be better for the ship to retreat. One of the commanders nodded, acknowledging the pilot's opinion.

"We'll revise the engagement area to five more kilometers," another commander said. "Captain Gladys, please move Minerva accordingly"

"Yes," Talia said. "Meyrin, tell Jupiter to follow us"

"Yes, sir," Meyrin said as she went on her job with precision.

While the ship began to move away, Gilbert looked at his watch. _"It's time"_

Somewhere in earth's orbit, multiple ZAFT drop pods began their descent into the atmosphere, glowing red-hot from friction as air ions brushed with their sides. When they were low enough, the pods disintegrated and ZAFT mobile suits poured out, descending toward the land beneath them.

* * *

1

* * *

**Author's note (4th April 2007)**

1. Firstly….

**_Happy Belated (or 'Bearlied') Birthday to GoddessIrui._**

_**and **_

_**all those who celebrated theirs in April**_

2. Another chapter finished, and another one (probably more) for the Atlantic battle.

3. You'll probably notice that I'm beginning to focus on the global conflict. I planned for this story to start by focusing on the characters, expand to the global conflict and then narrow down to the characters again.

4. I always believe that war can take place when the parties involved agree to it (start and retaliate). By the same token, it can only be stopped by two methods. First you crush your enemy until it's unwilling or unable to fight anymore, i.e. conquer it. Of course, people would prefer the second option which is peace talks. However, real peace can only take place when everybody agrees to have it, not just one party. This was illustrated by the second war that took place despite TTSA's efforts. Let's say that no matter how powerful Kira and Strike Freedom were, they're no match for the will of so many people bent on war (either willfully or through manipulation).

* * *


	45. Hell in the Heaven

"Sir! We detect multiple approaches from orbit," a radar operator announced as he quickly keyed some commands. "The signatures… they're ZAFT's!"

"What?! They're attacking Heaven's Base?" his commander roared. "Sound the alarm!" As alarm began to come alive inside the base, he rattled out more orders. "Their bearings?"

"Incoming from sector 3 to 76," the person next to him answered.

"Get the sentries to get ready and prepare the Nibelung. I want them blasted out of the sky"

In the middle of the island, ground began to tremble as what seemed to be a mountain parted, revealing the parabolic array beneath it. A large, grotesque-looking antennae rose to rise from the middle of the structure; its function would be to feed highly charged particle to all of the mirror-like transmitters which would then refocus all of the energy upward in a wide arc. If used, it would have been the perfect anti-air against the mass formation of enemy mobile suits dropped from space. However ZAFT realized that fact as well.

"Commander," someone cried out from the CIC console. "Our mobile suits sighted three ZAFT mobile suits already around 20,000 meters above us. Visuals show them to be some kind of ZAKU prototypes"

The Heaven Base commander turned toward the general direction of the radar operators. "You bastards didn't tell me they are coming!"

"We have nothing on them on screen, sir"

Snorting derisively, the commander turned toward the CIC. "Tell our guys to shoot them out of the sky before they can sabotage Nibelung"

Orders were transmitted and the few Windams and Daggers flew to engage the three mobile. However, the intruders were not interested in engaging them. Undetectable by radar and cannot be acquired by the targeting computer, they quickly flew toward Nibelung with the LOGOS mobile suits in hot pursuit.

As the ZAFT mobile suits got nearer and nearer to their objective, mobile anti air artillery around the gigantic weapon began firing. However, their aim was inaccurate as their control had to be switched to manual. However, the defenders managed to force the three mobile suits to retreat a bit.

Finally, the pursuing Windams and Daggers had managed to arrive at the place and a short battle ensued, with the LOGOS's number compensating against the ZAFT mobile suits' stealth system. Finally, realizing that they had no time to waste, the three ZAKUs dived toward Nibelung, each of them launching all Firefly missiles from launchers mounted on their legs. Their desperate gambit ensured the pilots' doom as depleted uranium bullets pierce through their mobile suits, turning them into giant fireballs one by one. They were successful though, a few of the missiles managed to get through the CIWS nets to hit the Nibelung. Also two of the burning wreckages crashed into the transmitter array whereas the other one hit the antennae and caused it to collapse.

The commander of the Heaven Base could only stare at what happened with disbelief. He could still remember Djibril's words about Nibelung being enough to defeat all of the attackers dropped from space when he asked for more mobile suits to be stationed there. Of course, few months before he had heard whispers that Djibril was confident of capturing the whole of Europe with just one Destroy prototype.

"Sir, what should we do?" It was the CIC officer again.

"Prepare the anti-aircraft battery and get all of our mobile suits in the air in five minutes," He silently cursed himself for being saddled with such a predicament.

"But they would require some time to prepare for launch,"

He let out an exasperated sound. "Goddamit! Just shut up and tell them to do it" The CIC was still a wet-behind-the-ear and had just been assigned to the post for a few weeks at most. The commander heard that the boy was a relative to one of the LOGOS's bigwigs who taught that it would be safe in Heaven's Base "Really, just concentrate on getting them in the air," he said in a placating manner. Getting a LOGOS member mad could prove detrimental to one's career. He then gazed at the main radar screen to see one of the blue dots on the radar disappeared right in front of his eyes followed by two red ones a few seconds later.

High above the underground base, mobile suits from two sides had begun their fight, with the preliminary kills indicated that ZAFT had an advantage.

But in Azores, the battle was well underway, with ZAFT still nowhere to capturing the islands. Efforts to land its troops on them were hampered by the fierce resistance presented by the defenders. One of the ZAFT's FAITH commanders began to wonder whether ZAFT and its Alliance allies would be able be to accomplish their mission even as he fought off one of the LOGOS' elite pilots.

"Die! Die! Die!" the voice of his opponent invaded his communication system.

Somehow he couldn't help thinking that the LOGOS pilot was crazy. Crazy or not, however, the twin Scylla II cannons the pilot kept firing at him mad him a dangerous adversary.

"Commander Athrun, we have managed to clear the minefield" Lunamaria announced. "The main landing party is being launched even as we speak"

Justice blocked a beam using its beam shield. "Good. Please keep an eye on them,"

"Commander!" Meyrin's face replaced the LOGOS pilot's. "Minerva is under attack!"

"What kind?" Mentally, he began going through various tactical considerations while simultaneously fending off Aegis's attack.

"Five Deep Forbiddens!"

He thought about Rey engaging Duel while Heine was fighting against Buster. A thought occurred to him but he found himself not liking the idea. Nevertheless, he had no choice as Minerva's defeat would certainly throw the whole ZAFT army into chaos as everyone knew that Gilbert was on that ship. "Lunamaria, how's your power reserve?" Justice threw its boomerang to Aegis which moved out of the way.

"Thirty percent"

"Get back to Minerva and provide support to Minerva" He then turned his attention toward Meyrin. "Prepare the Deuterium beam for Impulse,"

"Yes, sir," Meyrin said as she signed off.

"But Commander," Lunamaria began to protest, "Without escort, the landing team would have a hard time progressing,"

Not taking his eyes off Aegis, Athrun replied, "I know, but if they got Minerva, that's it. So, you must return now" With the crosshair aimed at Aegis's chest, he pressed the trigger. "I'll try to get some support for the landing party" The shot missed its original target, but managed to hit one of the Scylla II, causing it to explode. While its body impervious to the explosion, Aegis lost its bearing for while "But we're suffering heavy losses, so I can't guarantee it," he said.

"I understand," Lunamaria said with a heavy heart.

"DIE CORDIE! DIE! DIE! DIE!" the Aegis' pilot screamed into the communication network before breaking into an uncontrollable laughter. Then Aegis slammed down its swords.

"Then I'll leave it to you," Athrun said to Lunamaria as Justice's sword stop both of Aegis'. "It's like we're getting nowhere," he said to himself with exasperation.

But Mark Robinson would have disagree with Athrun's statement had he heard the comment. As he looked at the view transmitted by his submarine's periscope, he surmised that ZAFT was definitely getting somewhere. "This is something unexpected. To think that Gilbert is in Azores while another force attacks here. What a scary guy,"

"Sir?" his executive officer asked.

"The battle in Azores is clearly a ruse planned to pull the wools over our eyes, Nadia. ZAFT is targeting here, not the island group, in the first place"

"But in that case why didn't it concentrate most of the attacking force here?"

"Cause if he does that, the LOGOS in Azores would certainly send backup here. If the commanders there do their job perfectly, then ZAFT and the Alliance's force would be sandwiched between Heaven's Base defenders and the backup from Azores. Even a space drop operation wouldn't have made any difference as the Nibelung would have made a short work out of them,"

"But the Nibelung is destroyed now,"

"That's what puzzles me. Those idiots should have at least fired it already before the ZAFT mobile suits could have reached there," he said as he regarded the view. "How's the news with our sighting of ZAFT's ships?"

Nadia checked her list. "The commodore reported two of our frigates, a destroyer and a missile cruiser have been sunk by ZAFT's Vulgoz -class submarines. On our side, we've managed to sunk all four of them"

"Probably plus two or three more that we haven't spotted. No surface ships?"

"None so far"

Mark rubbed his chin. "This is a bit weird,"

"Oh, by the way, the commodore finds the ZAFT subs bit disturbing"

"Disturbing?"

"No mobile suits were launched during the engagement and sonar pings that we got showed that there's a slightly larger echoes than normally expected,"

Despite anechoic coating on submarines, they still reflect sonar signatures, especially if the submarines themselves produce a lot of internal noise. Also, a submarine with a lot of unfilled space produced a larger sonar signature, much like an empty can making the loudest noise. "Echoes that probably caused by cavities…"

"Or empty mobile suits holds," Nadia finished for him.

"That means their mission wasn't to capture the island, but rather to destroy to neutralize the air defense… and then neutralize the mobile suit factory and the subs would then recover the remaining mobile suits"

"ZAFT isn't really interested with this base's capture?"

"Yes. And to pull it off, ZAFT purposely announced its plan to attack Azores so that a lot of LOGOS' naval mobile suits would be moved to the islands," The idea made sense, Mark told himself. Even if ZAFT's attack on Azores islands was to be repulsed, the destruction of Heaven's Base would mean that all reinforcement and supplies had to be brought in from Atlantic Federation with no protection from base in Iceland. And with ZAFT's submarines on the prowl, it could impose a blockade around the islands. If that happened, ZAFT would be able to starve the Azores Islands and cripple its defense slowly, bit by bit until they were ready for taking.

"So, what should we do?"

"Nadia, tell our subs to prepare to fire Hammerheads" Unfortunately, his fleet wasn't there to watch ZAFT win the war. It had its own mission, one which entailed capturing Heaven's Base and if possible its underground mobile suit factory intact. "Also, relay the ground targets' coordinates to the rear fleet. I want Skulds and Verthandi rockets ready for launch as well on them as well as"

"How about the aerial mobile suits?"

"Since they're fighting each other in the air, we shouldn't interfere. But get the rest of our fleet here. The missile cruisers could prove useful in helping our own mobile suits by engaging any hostile airborne target. How about the landing party?"

"Their hovercrafts would be ready in fifteen minutes"

"Relay to our airborne guys that the landing areas are changed to A2, C3, D17, D20 and E1"

"Sir, picking up additional drop pod. It's a bit different than the normal one," someone else said.

"Can you track it?"

"Will do"

The said drop pod disintegrated in the air and a ZAFT mobile suit emerged from it. Being more than twenty-two meters high, it towered over most of the mobile suits that were fighting below it. Inside the cockpit, the radar display popped up and began triangles began to overlapped the red dots on it, indicating that the targeting system had locked on to the enemy. To an unknowing observer, it looked like the mobile suit shared the same targeting system as Freedom. However, despite the likeness, it neither employed the complicated simultaneous manual control implemented on Freedom nor the sophisticated retina tracking system used on Fallen. Instead, it used radar targeting system, a simpler feature that could be used by any pilot. Finally no new triangles formed over the targets and the pilot pressed the trigger button.

Instantly, all of the compartments around the mobile suit popped open and missiles poured out of them, with three of four missiles being assigned to each target. That ensured around seventy percents of the targets were destroyed as all of them weren't equipped with any Phase Shift armor.

It landed only to find itself being surrounded by few Daggers and Windams bent on revenge over their fallen comrades. As if unfazed, it slowly raised its hands, an oversize Krogoth twin beam rifles in the right while its left hand was holding a weapon pod that held three beam Gatling guns. The guns were the last thing the LOGOS pilots saw before they died. Unharmed, the mobile suit began to move slowly, crushing a Dagger's head as if it was nothing. The nameless mobile suit then began run amok on the battlefield, leaving destruction in its wake.

"Valkyrie?" Lacus asked as she and Andrew floated together along the corridor of Eternal, the lack of gravity making them look like as if they were flying.

The one-eyed man nodded. "Yes, the gatekeepers of Messiah. From our intelligence, the three of them patrol the base on a regular basis. But now the 'unit A' is missing"

"One of our people said that a transfer order has been signed the Chairman himself"

"I see," she said in a distracted manner.

"Worried about something?"

"Uh… no, I think Kira is doing fine right now,"

Andrew turned his head toward Lacus ever so slightly. When he asked the question, he was referring to the ongoing battle. It was without a doubt that no matter who wins, the end result wouldn't good. However, Lacus answered that she wasn't worried about Kira, which meant that she was worried about him. Andrew looked forward, understanding the fact that even in the midst of a war one would need to have a quiet moment for him or herself and that include the courageous woman beside him. Nevertheless, he wondered whether Lacus worry had to do with the fact that ORB was not that far away from the scene of the fighting or regarding the Allster girl. Rather than dwell on it, he let his own thought momentarily strayed to his lover whom he had in the first war,

"I was told that something resembling the destroyed ZAFT's neutron neutralizer was seen being loaded on a Nazca carrier cargo hold," Lacus said, breaking Andrew's train of thought.

"Neutron neutralizer?" he asked while trying to remember what the thing was. "Oh, the prototype that was supposed to be destroyed when that lab explode,"

"Yes. I really have a bad feeling about this. If it's true, then it looks like the chairman is keeping it a secret, something that he shouldn't do as it can be used to protect PLANTs from future strikes. And that's not the only thing. By hiding it, it's obvious that he don't want the Allia, I mean, LOGOS to know"

"That means he's saving it as an ace"

Lacus turned toward Andrew. "Which also means that he's expecting a nuclear attack on PLANTs soon,"

A scowl appeared on the man's face. "You must be joking! For him to be gambling on that… Dammit, he's putting countless life in danger!"

"That he is," Lacus concurred. "And to think that I was thinking of supporting him in the beginning of the war,"

The revelation was quite shocking to the man next to her that he didn't say anything.

"At that time, it seemed that he's a capable person to lead the PLANTs into the realm of peace; the closest man to help me achieve one of my two dreams," she continued while smiling wanly.

"One of your dreams?

"Yes. To continue my father… and his colleagues' work,"

"What do you mean?"

"My father, along with the members of the United Nations were supposed to sign a treaty when the Tragedy of Copernicus. Until today we still don't know the perpetrators who were responsible for attacking the delegates," Lacus sighed.

"A treaty?"

"Yes. A treaty that promotes the integration and cooperation between Earth and PLANTs; Naturals and Coordinators,"

"That seems like a good vision,"

"But not without detractors. Blue Cosmos accused it of a plan by Coordinators to subjugate Naturals while some of the council members didn't want to concede not even a bit of PLANTs' autonomy"

"That's understandable since it's not fair to expect PLANTs to give up their independence,"

Lacus shook her head. "Not so. I have seen the draft, and the aim of the treaty is not to oppress or control any nation but rather to slowly create a united government, where the distinctions between Coordinators and Naturals can finally be eliminated,"

"Whoa, that sounds…"

"Impossible?" Lacus asked, smiling at him. She then looked ahead as they reached the mobile suit hangar.

"Actually, I was thinking that it's quite impressive," Andrew said as the two continued their journey, greeting the people they saw.

Both of them stopped in front of a newly built mobile suit. Lacus raised her head to gaze at it, moving her head slightly as her eyes traced the Super DRAGOON unit installed behind it. "I really wish that it can be achieved,"

Andrew nodded while raising his head to look at the mobile suit, having a feeling that he knew what her other dream was.

Back at Azores Island, the conclusion of battle between Aegis and Justice was nowhere in sight. As Athrun fired off Justice's MA-M1911 rifle, his opponent nimbly moved toward his left side before firing of the single Scylla II it had. While the shot was absorbed by Justice's beam shield, Aegis took the opportunity rammed itself into Justice, surprising Athrun with the audacity of the move.

"You're good, Cordie,"

"I'm just doing my job"

"Job? Something fun like this isn't a job!" With that Aegis engaged its boosters, heading toward Justice.

Realizing that trying to evade would left him in a vulnerable position, Athrun had no choice but to stand his ground. As Aegis' hands withdrew back in preparation to stab, he waited patiently. When the enemy mobile suit was close enough to slash, Athrun brought up Justice's MX2002 shield in its left hand to block the slash coming from his left side. The second slash was stopped by him kicking the other hand with Justice's right leg with its Griffon leg beam blade activated. The beam blade cut through Aegis's hand like knife through hot butter. However, the blade in the severed hand cut through one of Fatum-01's wings.

"Huh! Looks like you're doing good, Cordie," Aegis pilot's voice was calm despite the fact that if Athrun kicked Justice's Griffon horizontally, he would have been killed by then. "I look forward to killing you next time," The mobile red and black camouflage mobile suit began to retreat slowly as a couple of Windams moved in to provide cover.

"You're a coward," Athrun said quietly.

"Of course not. If I die, then I wouldn't be able to kill anymore. That would suck big time,"

Deciding that it would be best for him to focus on his mission, he contacted Minerva. "How's the situation?"

"The Forbiddens had been defeated," Meyrin said with a slight twinge of pride in her voice, hinting about the one that helped to defeat them.

Athrun then remembered the landing party that Lunamaria mentioned earlier. He had diverted one of the flight to protect it but didn't know what happen. "Have we managed to secure the landing?"

Meyrin's face faltered a bit but before she could answer, three signal flares were launched from Minerva.

The Justice's pilot couldn't believe his eyes when he saw the flares. "A retreat signal?" he asked incredulously.

"All the landings have failed," Meyrin said solemnly.

Not far away from her seat, Gilbert and the ZAFT military commanders were looking at the computer map on the table in front of them. "What's you opinion, gentlemen?" the chairman asked in a small voice.

"Better than we expected," one of them answered. "The loss we suffer is lesser than projection and we even managed to cripple a lot of their defense,"

Gilbert looked at one of the screens showing the main island. Where there had been lush vegetation and flora, there were only raging fires and wreckages from both forces. "Our allies?"

"With a few frigates and destroyers left, all have been obliterated,"

A small smile creased his lips. "That's a consolation. Now, we have succeeded in our plan here. It's up to the force attacking Heaven's Base to do the rest," The plan hatched by him and the ZAFT's strategic planners managed to draw most of the LOGOS military might to the islands. As such, the destruction of their headquarters up north would certainly be assured.

But as with countless battles that spanned throughout humankind's existence, unexpected events could cause even the best plan to fail. And in ZAFT's case, the numerous Atlantic and Eurasian vessels surrounding Iceland was something they didn't expect.

"Is the preparation ready?" Mark asked.

"Yes sir," Nadia answered.

"The answers from both sides?"

"None whatsoever,"

"Looks like we have to go through with it. Launch the barrage,"

Simultaneously, many of the submarines in the group flooded their missile holds, releasing their Hammerhawks missiles in the process. The missiles slowly made their way until they were around twenty meters to the surface. Then, their motors kicked in and they began at a higher speed until they flew out the water like giant metallic flying fish that were lunging toward their prey on the nearby island. While the Heaven's Base anti-air defense began to track them, the various gaps in its armor caused by the current fight between it and the invading ZAFT caused most of the missiles to get through. When the Hammerhawks were at their predetermined course, they exploded and two meter-long tungsten-nickel spikes inside their warheads began raining on the islands, hitting both the LOGOS and the ZAFT forces alike. Some of the mobile suits that were fighting on the ground at the time of the strike looked like giant pincushions.

Mark looked at the screen to assess the damage and came to the decision that it wasn't enough, "Fire the Verthandi and Skulds and begin the airlift operation. Once the targets are secured, launch the hovercrafts immediately"

Conventional missiles were fired by ships that were racing toward the islands as Windams began to launch from their carriers. Some of them were equipped specially made Lander pack, a pack that included a cargo bay that allowed them to carry ten infantry at the cost of a bit of firepower and mobility. As the Verthandi and Skuld missiles began bombarding the island, the Windams made their way to the designated landing points. The general confusion caused by the strikes allowed them to capture four of them. The detachment that supposed to capture E1 failed to do so because they were unfortunate enough to face the powerful ZAFT war machine which somehow made its way there.

"Strong" Mark simply uttered as he starred at the mobile suit destroying the landing group.

"Sir?"

He thought for a moment. "Launch…," he stopped as he tried to remember the real names of the mobile suits but couldn't do. Despite acknowledging their importance, Mark wasn't really a fan of mobile suits in the first place. "Dumbass and Dodo to engage it"

There were snickers and muffled laughter around him.

"Are you referring to Dorky and Dubious, sir?" Nadia said with a straight face.

Mark shrugged. "Whatever,"

* * *

1

* * *

**Author's note (16 April 2007)**

1. Finally the battle in the Atlantic has been concluded. Strategically speaking, if LOGOS expected an attack at Heaven Base rather than Azores, it would have been more vigilant. Hence, the attack by using the stealth prototypes by ZAFT would probably fail and the Nibelung would have destroyed most of the mobile suits dropped from the space. Also, with LOGOS in Azores, it would make perfectly good sense to attack it first. When I planned the Heaven's Base attack last year, I look at the world map and saw that with just a bit of resource, Azores can protect Heaven Base from attacks based launched from Gibraltar.

2. As for the Dorky and Dubious, I actually have no intention on focusing on them (no cookies for anyone guessing their real name correctly). It's like Stargazer, Strike Noir (and co) and Astrays of Gundam Seed era; they're there, but not focused upon in the main story. After all, I think the mobile suit skirmish in this battle is quite long already.

3. Skuld and Verthandi are two of the three Norns in the Norse mythology. Skuld governs the future whereas Verthandi governs the present. The similarity between Skuld and Scud is purely intentional.


	46. Doppelganger

The pilot looked at his power gauge. "Strike's running dry here," he commented as his mobile suit evaded the twin green beam cannon being fired by the hulking ZAFT mobile suit in front of it.

"Same here, comrade Thomas. Blitz has around 20 to 25 percent left," his wingman commented.

"Well, ain't this helluva situation we're in right now? We're going to live up to our 'Dorky' and 'Dubious' names after all" he said sarcastically.

"I heard that the admiral's calling Strike and Blitz as 'Dumbass' and 'Dodo',"

"That Navy dickhead… how dare he calls mine Dumbass," he muttered said as he fired off another shot which was blocked easily.

"I will distract it while so that you can fire Tombak Sakti," Blitz's pilot suggested. "The enemy is too strong,"

Tom looked at the power gauge with some trepidation. Like the name its namesake, which meant 'Magical Spear' the weapon could only be fired once as the shot would drain all of Strike's battery. However, it seemed that he had no choice. "All right,"

While Blitz engaged the behemoth, Strike began feeding energy into its rifle and its blade-like barrel began to extend. The charge-up was done just in time as the ZAFT mobile suit managed to land a blow on an invisible Blitz, knocking it away. When the Mirage Colloid faded, a dent mark could be seen on it.

Tom gritted his teeth "Damn you, you piece of shit. EAT THIS!" he shouted as Strike unleashed a very powerful beam shot

The shot hit the mobile suit on-spot but when the shot receded, the mobile suit was unharmed as it managed to raise its beam shield to block the shot. Only the beam shield and its module were destroyed.

"Shit… just a little bit more and I would have gotten him" At the same time, Strike's Phase Shift armor began to lose its glow as power stopped flowing through it. The armor wasn't the only that was affected as Strike fell to the earth face down as metallic voice keep spouting meaningless reminder to the pilot that its power level was too low. However, Tom ignored as he knew that his life will end in a matter of few seconds. But the expected death didn't come as he heard a loud crashing noise. Then his wingman's gasp caused him to become curious. Using whatever left of Strike's battery to crane its head he was speechless to see the sight he saw.

A black mobile suit was kneeling in front of his mobile suit, each of its outstretched hands holding a Seitenwaffe anti-ship beam sword. There was a small explosion behind it as the ZAFT mobile suit it had slashed into two caught fire. The mobile suit then slowly got up, storing its deactivated beam swords at its lower back. The inferno from the still burning ZAFT wreckage illuminated the newcomer's gunmetal black body and red trimming. That, and the fact that its eyes were like giant dark sapphires made it look very intimidating in the Strike's pilot's eyes.

There was a static sound as the communication system in front of Tom came to live.

"Strike, a friendly mobile suit is coming toward your way to assist. We lost it on the radar but you should be aware of it,"

He opened his mouth to answer but then closed it. After doing the same thing a few times like a fish out of water, he finally broke into a laughing fit.

"Strike?"

Slumping back against his seat and chuckling mirthlessly, he replied, "Your warning is a bit late, Geronimo" It took less than a second for him to find a word to describe the mobile suit in front of him. "Doppelganger is already here and has wrapped everything up,"

* * *

Kira looked out of the window as the shuttle he was in had reached the Earth's orbit, not really thinking why he did it. 

"Looking toward Iceland, General?" the shuttle's pilot, next to him in an attempt to make a small conversation.

"Iceland?"

"Yup. According to preflight met report, there's a missiles and beams shower over there right now"

"Really?" the brown haired Coordinator asked in surprise while turning toward the pilot. "I thought that ZAFT is attacking Azores, not Iceland,"

"I don't have the full detail but it's something recent. Personally I think it's a two-pronged attack kind of thing,"

"I see," Kira said while turning back to look toward Iceland. It looked like the battle there would lead to something else. He just hoped it wasn't more fighting as he was getting sick of that.

"But it's pretty daring of Lady Cagalli to suggest us to go to Terminal right now, in the midst of a battle,"

"That's because all sides would be very busy and preoccupied with the battles. As long as we keep out of the expected route, we should be okay,"

"You're right, I guess. So what will you do there?"

Kira thought about the communiqué received from Terminal regarding the completion of Strike Freedom. It would have been nice if there was no need for it to be used but the war has entered its critical phase and he couldn't just sit at the sideline while watching everyone fight. Even Fllay was playing her own part.

Fllay.

Despite the intimate night they spent together, Kira didn't know what to think of the event. He was still confused of his feeling for her and Lacus.

"Looks like you miss her," the pilot commented.

"I guess…"

"Well, don't worry. You'll see her soon enough," the pilot said, thinking that the man next to him couldn't wait to see the Clyne heiress.

"Yeah…," While Kira agreed with the pilot's statement, he wasn't sure which one really missed.

* * *

"Doppelganger?" Mark asked as he walked into a room which was dimly illuminated. Inside it various soldiers were busy typing into few of the computers there while a few of them were carting away damaged things. Flurries of activities took place not only in the room, but everywhere on the island since it was captured three hours before. 

Nadia looked at her tablet computer. "Yes. Although the IFF identification shows that it's ZGMF-X16X,"

He raised his eyebrows in recognition. "That one, is it? Then the nickname really fits" Mark looked at a computer that had its screen broken. "Can we get everything online soon?"

"Yes. seems like the ZAFT's attack managed to surprise them that the equipments were mostly unscathed,"

"And they didn't destroy any of them because they realized that ZAFT is trying to get them to do the same? The factory?"

"In just four days week although the Nibelung would only be operational in two weeks' time,"

"I think neither Djibril, his pet Copland, and Gilbert would be in any position to attack here in such a short notice. They still had their wounds to lick,"

"So, our mission ends?"

Mark smiled ruefully and shook his head. "As Jacques had said, 'either all of us stop or we stop them before they can stop us',"

* * *

Athrun opened the door and let out a small breath at what he saw. "You're stealing my brooding spot, you know," he said to the person who was leaning on the rail. 

Shinn didn't answer.

The FAITH commander moved to another spot two meters away and looked at the starless night. Since the battle has ended, with what seemed as a draw, Minerva and its escorts had relocated to a hundred kilometers away from Azores where new plans were being discussed by the ZAFT higher-ups regarding what to do regarding the current situation. That left pilots like him with plenty of time to spare. He had entertained the idea of asking Luna and her sister to join him for dinner, but he found them already returning from the cafeteria, chatting about family matters. Knowing well not to interfere, Athrun decided to go to observation deck where he could think spend some time in solitude. Of course, he didn't expect to see Shinn to be there as well.

As he continued with his gazing, he wondered about his childhood dreams and wondered whether he would be able to work to achieve one of them after the war ends. As far as he could remember, Athrun was always interested in matters regarding nature preservation. A small smile suddenly found itself on his lips. He always asked himself why he really enjoyed staying at ORB. It was because he would involve himself with the maritime preservation efforts, apart from spending his time with Cagalli.

He sighed.

With the passing day, the name brought lesser and lesser confusion to him. He had felt for her, and still did, but somehow… he found himself attracted to Lunamaria and the more the two of them spent time together, the more he found himself liking the elder of the Hawke sisters. Things would be messy when he met Cagalli, but it couldn't be helped. He must explain the matter to her. While Athrun didn't want to hurt her, it was better for him not to pretend that their relationship was still there.

"Aren't you going to lecture me?" Shinn's quiet words interrupted Athrun's internal muse.

Athrun turned his head sideways at Shinn for a brief moment. He had considered talking to Shinn about what happened a few hours ago after finding out about it from Rey. Having seen Yzak face the same predicament, Athrun knew how the younger pilot would have felt at discovering that he had killed innocent people. There was a lot that he wanted to say to calm Shinn, to tell him that what happened in the past couldn't be changed; the only thing for Shinn to do is to remember the real reason why he fought war. Only then he would be able to find his own path, just as Athrun did. "No,"

"No?" Shinn asked in a surprised voice.

"I came here to relax myself," Athrun said. "Finding you here is just a coincidence,"

"Oh," came the subdued response.

The silence continued on almost an hour. It ended after Shinn wiped his face using his hand. "Thank you," The sentence was short but yet carried a lot of meaning behind it

"You're welcome," Athrun answered as a he turned away to hide a small grin. "By the way, Shinn,"

"Yeah?"

"If anything gets into your eyes this time, I'm not helping,"

* * *

"Kira!" Lacus said joyously as she flung herself at the man just as he got off from the newly-landed shuttle. 

Catching the pink-haired songstress with his two hands, Kira smiled a bit. "It's has been a while, Lacus,"

"I missed you so much," she whispered.

Kira opened his mouth to say the same thing, but a vision of another girl flashed in his mind. "Me too," he said, hiding his guilt perfectly.

"She lost some weight since she came here, thinking about you," Andrew who was behind her said, joking about the fact the place, being in the middle of space, had no gravity pull.

However, Kira took the message wrongly. "You shouldn't do that Lacus. You have to take care of yourself," he admonish gently as he played with her hair a bit. A flash, with a similar scene but with another person, played in his mind, making it heavier with guilt. He didn't realize it, but his body tensed slightly at the idea.

Mistaking his action as a sign of fatigue, Lacus withdrew from their embrace. "You must be tired after the trip. Maybe you should get some rest before we talk about the recent developments,"

Shaking his head, he said, "I'm okay. I think I've rested enough while in flight,"

Lacus seemed to hesitating but then took his hand and led him out of the hangar, followed by Andrew and Da Costa. Turning to look at him, she said softly, "There's a lot I wanted to say to you,"

Kira could only nod, not trusting his mind to come out with a suitable answer. He had thought again and again about what to say to Lacus regarding what happened between him and Fllay while at the Archangel. He also have prepared to assure her that things didn't change between the two of them. However, when he finally meet her, his mind became blank and all his words left him. That wasn't supposed to happen. After all, weren't Lacus' serene eyes attracted him to her in the first place? Furthermore, she was a kind woman whose beautiful face belies her strong personality and conviction. Unlike Fllay who was a maelstrom of emotions and feelings, the other girl was a perfect picture of calmness, depicting her name easily. It should have been easy to end up with her only, which he did but yet the recent development threatened the relationship that they shared. Despite allegation that Fllay seduced him in the first war, he couldn't blame her as it was him who initiated what happened at that time.

And he still had to admit that he was deliciously dazed by it.

"Kira?" Lacus asked.

"Huh?"

"You're looking a bit spaced out just now," she then realized what she said, "and I wasn't making any joke about it. Are you sure you're not tired? I mean, this can wait,"

"No. I'm just thinking about what had happened,"

"That's a puzzle for us too," Lacus admitted. "This new Atlantic-Eurasian Confederate, as we currently refer to right now, seems to have alignment with neither ZAFT nor LOGOS"

"So, we don't know anything about it?" Kira asked.

"Well," Andrew observed. "I think it may be friendly or at least neutral toward us," He smirked when everyone turned toward him. "Well, Cherubim was playing the Eurasian envoy to us, remember? So, I think we will hear from them soon,"

While nodding, Lacus stole a glance at Kira. It was killing her not to know about whether anything had happened between Kira and Fllay and like other people, she could feel her jealousy mounting over the fact that Kira might rekindled his relationship with the latter. However she had to push the matter aside for the moment. She could always ask him when they could be alone. But Lacus feared for the answer that will come out of his mouth.

She wasn't alone with the thought as the brown-haired ace next to her also feared the same thing.

* * *

Rey Za Burrel was walking toward his room when he suddenly felt pain gripped his chest and he began to cough uncontrollably. Meanwhile, his vision began to blur and he couldn't recognize the two blurry forms in front of him. A third one seemed to appear and tried to calm him. But the words the person spoke was lost on him; in fact the words even cause his ears and head to hurt as well. Everything seemed to move at an excruciatingly slow speed with Rey barely paying attention to what was happening until he felt a plastic bottle was being pressed into his hand. Instinctively knowing what it was, he quickly opened it, poured some of the bottle's content into his palm and quickly swallowed them. He then closed his eyes and waited for the medicine to take effect. The pain lasted a few minutes more until it began to abate. It was then Rey could make out what was being said. 

"Are you okay, Rey?" Meyrin's voice asked.

Rey opened his eyes and looked at the people in front of him. "I guess so," His voice was raspy and sounded alien to him.

"Rey, you're a bit of hard headed, you know," Heine said in a chiding manner. "I told you that you're allergic to that food but you wouldn't listen to me. Now look at what happened. You made Miss Poppins and her sister worry,"

"Sorry," Rey said despite Heine's words being wrong.

Heine patted his back joyfully. "All right. Nothing's like a little rest to cure a food poisoning. Come along," he said as he led Rey from Meyrin and Lunamaria.

Rey waited until the two of them were far away from the Hawke sisters to thank Heine.

Waving it off, Heine said in an offhanded manner. "It's okay. One good turn deserves another,"

They continued walking toward Rey's room when Heine suddenly said, "You know, you resemble Commander Creuset,"

"Really?" Rey asked.

"I served under him for a short while, but I did get to see his unmasked face once,"

"I don't understand where this is going,"

"You have short telomeres, haven't you?"

"How? How do you know?" By Heine's statements, it was obvious that he knew everything.

"I've seen the same prescription being taken by him at that time,"

"I see,"

"I guess that's what you meant by the statement you made when Shinn went to return that Extended girl, didn't you?"

Rey didn't answer the question.

"Okay, so maybe you can enlighten me on what's your plan in life. I can see that you're a pretty good musician,"

It doesn't matter. I'm La Creuset" Rey said as they stopped in front of the door to his room.

"Really?" Heine said as he put his hands on hips.

"Yes,"

"Then I guess maybe I should be careful around you," The sentence was said unflappably.

"Perhaps," The door to the room that housed both Shinn and him opened.

"You know, Amarfi's son served with Athrun in the first war,"

"So?"

"He died,"

"I know that," Rey said, with a tint of annoyance.

"He's a musician too. Plays piano as well,"

"I still don't get what you're trying to say"

"You can still play piano but he can't; it's as simple as that," Heine said as he began to walk away. "Oh, by the way, I just remembered that Commander Creuset doesn't really care about music,"

* * *

If a casual observer was present in Gilbert's room, the observer could see only a small frown on the chairman's face as he paced around, hands behind his back. But people that knew him very well such as Captain Talia would have pointed out that whatever he was thinking about, it was annoying him immensely. After all, no small matter can crack the mask the ZAFT chairman had perfected. 

A combined fleet of North Atlantic-Eurasian ships capturing Heaven's Base almost intact was nothing trivial. And it did so thanks to the diversion he had unwittingly provided.

Clenching his teeth and taking a very slow and deep breath, Gilbert forced himself to sit down on a couch. It wouldn't be prudent for him to lose his cool since what had happened couldn't be changed and it was a fact that the fleet had captured Heaven's Base. Thus, the only thing to do for him was to reassess and then come up with a strategy to capitalize on the current situation.

First he thought about Azores. From the fight, he knew that without any reinforcements, the islands would fall if ZAFT was to attack it again. That meant that his initial strategy would be successful. Of course, that would materialize only if the shipments inbound toward the islands could be stopped, which had been achieved. What Djibril would do next, Gilbert wondered. Would LOGOS attack to retake Heaven's Base?

A beeping tone from the computer nearby called for his attention. Wondering what was important enough that they had call him in his room, Gilbert walked to it. "Yes?" he asked as one of ZAFT generals appeared.

"Sorry to interrupt you, sir but we have received a coded transmission from PLANTs with priority one to you, sir,"

"Send it here,"

"Yes sir,"

The screen then changed to show that something was being downloaded. After it has finished, Gilbert had to bring his face to the computer to let it scan his face and eyes as well as provide the necessary passwords in order to open the message. He wasn't prepared for what he saw and had to reread the message again to reconfirm it. A thoughtful look appeared on his face. New York and the nearby places have been overrun by an unknown force, probably the North Atlantic-Eurasian faction. At the same time the ZAFT intelligence network has reported numerous uprising in places such as Ontario and Florida against Copland, demanding him to step down. Predictably, Copland would certainly clamp down on the protests and attack to reclaim the captured places. When that happened, he couldn't possibly concentrate on the efforts to reinforce Azores and the islands would fall eventually. Of course, Djibril, not being a fool would leave the islands and head somewhere else safer, maybe Arzachel where ZAFT couldn't possibly attack without sacrificing a large amount of ships or revealing its secret weapon.

After making a note to take care of the deranged megalomaniac later, Gilbert turned toward the second matter. What to do about the fleet in Heaven's Base? He already knew that the fleet wasn't sympathetic to LOGOS or else it would have routed ZAFT fleet instead of capturing Heaven's Base. Friendly was also out of the question as the Nazca ship that was in orbit to monitor the incursion into Iceland had been destroyed, along with the rest of the invading forces. Briefly he wondered how the fleet's mobile suits managed to kill the Valkyrie sent to ravage the base. Probably a lucky shot or they simply overwhelmed it through numbers. But the loss was negligible. There were two more units at Messiah that would be reassigned to SALVATION.

Shifting his attention back at the fleet, he tried to think of its next move. A thought suddenly occurred to him, causing him to frown once more. Assuming that it wasn't predisposed toward ZAFT and LOGOS, then the only possible alliance that could took place is between it and Clyne's Terminal. That would certainly put damper in his own plan to unite the whole under the aegis of Destiny Plan.

Rather than let that happen, he must strike them before any alliance could be made, if his vision for peace was to be protected. He also had to take care of ORB as the small but at times annoying nation would certainly go against the plan. If Yona and Unato were still around, he could have 'convinced' them, but he doubted the bullheaded and blunt Attha heiress would not be as easy. After all, she took after her father. The only way to really guarantee ORB's agreement is to capture it.

Gilbert got up from his plush seat and went to the table to see ORB's map, a plan began to form in his head. The island had proven itself as an ally of Alliance before Cagalli's take over, and by proxy, LOGOS. Thus, its stewards at that time could be accused of being LOGOS members and supporters. Gilbert would push for an international court to be set up to handle their trial and when it was ready, demand from ORB for their extradition. If it turned them over, that meant Cagalli was a weak-willed person who could be influenced to accept Destiny Plan. If not, then it would give him a good pretext to attack the nation.

But to do that would certainly invite some kind of resistance from Zala as he had spent quite some time in that nation; without further proof, it could be concluded that he was sympathetic to that nation. Gilbert wasn't willing to have the FAITH member openly oppose the plan as it would affect ZAFT's moral. Then he remembered about Terminal and smiled. Yes, that would be perfect. As the chairman of PLANTs, Gilbert would send Athrun to negotiate a peace plan or at least a ceasefire with Lacus. By doing so, he would be able to kill two birds with one stone.

He walked to the curtains and open them, looking at the view of the ocean under the cover of the night. It was still dark, he told himself, but soon, a dawn of new day will come forth and it would be him that would lead it.

* * *

1

* * *

**Author's note (1 May 2007)**

1. Finally, the battle in Azores and Heaven's Base have concluded. Like Lambda123 and some of you had noted, the whole section is a bit long, especially around the MS fights. I wanted to do short fights but that would be a bit out of place as this is a Gundam story. Hence, as lazy as I am, fights are important. After all, I used them to control internal timing with the story as well. As for the overall battle in Azores, actually, the battle itself is quite short. If you take out the assault on Iceland as well as the overall political change in Moscow, you'll have at most two chapters or even less. I only do long battles whenever there's a very important event during or after it. I planned to do only three long battles in this story so the last one would be the battle that conclude this story.

2. The title 'Doppelganger' is given because I feel that the segments in this chapter fits well with the theme. For example, Rey is a shadow of Creuset who is a shadow of Fllaga.

3. I know there's some confusion following introduction of many prototypes, including two in this chapter but despite what I portray, they're not that pretty powerful. I'm just making their battle scenes as exciting as I can (Sorry, Rising Dragon, while your guess about their apperance is correct, I still couldn't fit them into Azores scene without being slightly out of place). However, some of them have some specialized capability.

Best overall : Strike Freedom  
Best in all enviroments : Destiny (because all of its weapons can be used on Earth, unlike Strike Freedom)  
Most flexible : Shizuka  
Farthest attack range : Buster  
Most powerful single shot : Strike LANCE  
Best short range : Crusader & Duel  
Best stealth : Blitz Nacht  
Best artilery fire : Calamity Aegis  
Speediest : Fallen NOVA 


	47. The shadows behind us

Despite being the admiral of the combined Atlantic-Eurasian armed force, a job that bought along with it heavy responsibilities, Mark always tried to find some time for himself. It was how he managed to stay sane throughout two wars. It was also how he found himself walking toward a cliff overlooking the Atlantic Ocean in the middle of a freezing night. However, to his surprise, someone else had beaten him to that spot. A hand instinctively moved toward his pistol holster when he saw the winter uniform the person was wearing.

"It wouldn't look good if they find our bodies tomorrow morning," the person said with a feminine voice without even turning.

Mark's hand stopped just above the holster. "I don't think Phantom Pain would really care about me living, not after what has happened here," he said, ignoring the water vapor forming with every breath he exhaled. The admiral had seen how special force assassin work and he had no illusion that he would die before he could even draw his pistol. However, that didn't mean that he should just give up.

"True"

The answer given to him was crisp and straight to the point, suggesting that what he was doing was a waste of time. But he still waited for a movement that never came. Finally Mark let down his guard a bit. "So if not here for my head, then why are you here?"

"To stand on the cliff to watch the sky," the woman said as she looked up.

The reply made Mark felt annoyed as he felt the woman was taunting him. But before he could say something, she continued.

"I can feel that he's far away,"

Mark didn't understand what the woman was trying to say but he kept his peace.

"How's the situation at the base?" the woman asked after a few bouts of silence.

Upon hearing the question, a thought struck Mark as he remembered the one time where he saw people wearing similar uniform, but yet not belonging to Phantom Pain. "You're Doppelganger's pilot, aren't you? The one Group Alfa sent to assist us"

The hooded woman turned and regarded him with her grey eyes. "Doppelganger?"

"Ah, that's what my people called your mobile suit since it's a shadow copy of Freedom,"

"I don't know about that,"

"We're just following ZAFT tendency to designate all unknown enemy mobile suits with words starting with the letter 'D'. I've just found out that Strike and Blitz both have been referred to as Devastation Strike and Devious Blitz," Mark couldn't figure out why the Strike's pilot has been so smug when they found out about the designations from the intelligence report; it was as if the man was trying to make a point to him. However, he figured out one thing. For ZAFT to find out about the two mobile suits meant that there were more than four ZAFT submarines that were sent to Iceland and at least one of them stayed long enough to see Strike and Blitz.

"I see," With that, the woman resumed her watch.

"I've yet to thank you for your help, Miss Allster," Mark said, remembering her name from the dossier he read on her.

Fllay simply waved him off. "The two of them had distracted the ZAFT mobile suit long enough for me to attack it"

"Still, they reported that it was very powerful and for you to be able to defeat it, speaks volume of your capability,"

"I'm not as good as you think"

"Your Captain seems to think that you're good enough and that's what matters," Mark moved next to her. "By the way, we have received a drop pod from Cherubim an hour ago. Mind letting us know what's inside or is it a hush-hush?" While his voice may be calm, he couldn't contain his curiosity regarding the drop pod. However, he couldn't just check its content without permission from Cherubim. The ship and by its extension, Fallen, is classified as a contractor; it falls outside the normal chain of command just like Serpent Tail and other mercenaries.

"It's okay. The drop pod contains Fallen's atmospheric flight module, that's all,"

"So I can give my people the permission to open it?"

"Go ahead. And if it's okay with you, I hope the maintenance crew can work on outside repairs," Before Mark could say anything, Fllay continued, "It's not what you think. The engineers who worked on the cockpit told me that they had to come up with custom tools in order to carry out the repair in the cockpit,"

"I understand," He was in deep thoughts for a few minutes before he continued, "You know, I was told that an ACCURSED or specifically an APEX holder is supposed to be crazy. However I can see that that statement isn't completely true"

Fllay shook her head. "It holds true, admiral. Even though I'm not really an APEX holder, the condition also applies to me. Only in the moment of insanity will the dormant ability be awakened"

"Well, I've met Buster and Aegis' pilots once and they're even crazier than those Extendeds. But you, you look pretty normal to me,"

Looking up and hugging herself, she replied, "That's because I'm already beyond that, admiral. I'm already consumed by madness, the never ending twilight. Unlike others, I can never recover from this feeling that I'm having," As she resumed her silent watch, Fllay thought about has happened between she and Kira. Ever since that night, her feeling toward him had intensified to the extent that she could almost feel where he was. Despite understanding the fact that she was deeply affected, she honestly didn't want the madness to end either, as doing so would require her to give up what she felt for Kira.

* * *

Lunamaria's eyes were wide as she couldn't believe what she heard. Despite that she managed to remind herself that she was in the presence of a superior officer. 

"You want the two of us to return to space?" Athrun said levelly to the seated man in front of them.

"Yes," Gilbert said while putting his fingertips together. He then addressed Lunamaria "Miss Hawke, the order that I'm issuing to two of you is a secret with very high clearance level. Because of this you're to keep it secret from everyone," It was obvious that the statement also included Meyrin. At her nod, Gilbert continued, "I want the two of you to negotiate a ceasefire with Lacus Clyne,"

The statement clearly shocked Lunamaria as evidenced by her opened mouth.

After checking with the man in front of him for permission, Athrun proceeded to tell Luna all about Lacus Clyne and Meer Campbell who was picked by Gilbert to replace her.

"Then, you're saying that the Lacus Clyne that we see all this while is…"

"Meer Campbell," Gilbert finished for her. "The real Lacus is somewhere else, trying to mediate between ZAFT and Alliance,"

"Then, why didn't we get her to join us?"

"I don't think that's a good idea, not when ZAFT was implicated in an assassination attempt against her," Gilbert replied with a slight frown.

Athrun nodded as he recalled the fact that he had forgotten about his own private investigation into the matter. He thought about his friends onboard Archangel. Would they forgive him for what he did?

"So why now?"

"It's because it had been proven that LOGOS's capabilities are more than we predicted. You saw that yourself in the previous fight,"

Lunamaria nodded.

"Despite its good intention, the group being headed by Miss Clyne had been a dark horse that is capable of disrupting any battle,"

"Like what he did to Commander Athrun's Saviour,"

Gilbert looked at Athrun for a second. "Correct. Right now the war is at its most crucial moment, so we neither have the luxury nor the resources to fight Terminal and LOGOS simultaneously. I don't want to be in the situation where we're in the middle of a tussle when LOGOS suddenly popped up and fired off nuclear missiles at PLANTs. I know that I'm asking for you to do something quite unpleasant, Athrun. With what happened between you and Yamato, the discussion would certainly be uncomfortable. However, you're the one I trust would be able to succeed,"

"I'll try my best," Athrun said.

"Good," Gilbert said as he handed an electronic tablet to each one of them. "The two of you, along with your assigned mobile suits would be transferred to Sihanouk and will depart the day after tomorrow. I trust that you know the ship's captain?"

Athrun nodded, remembering the captain of the Nazca-class ship.

"I don't think it would look good on us if we send too many escorts for the negotiation, but Commander Joule would temporarily be placed under your authority for the duration.

A thin smile formed on Athrun's lips as he imagined that Yzak would certainly scream at him because of that order. Nevertheless, he was glad that Yzak and Dearka would accompany him as despite their faults, he knew that he could rely on them.

"The details are there in the tablets," Gilbert leaned back on his seat. "I sincerely hope that this mission would be fruitful for us,"

Both pilots saluted him and left the room.

"To secure peace, is it?" Lunamaria asked while they walked along the corridor.

"Remember about the security level, Luna," Athrun reminded her as he put his right hand on her left shoulder.

"But it's quite shocking,"

"Tell me about it," Athrun said. He was about to say something else when he saw Heine waltzing toward them, hands in his pockets.

"Hello, lovebirds,"

"Heine!" Lunamaria sputtered.

"What? Flirting with me in front of your boyfriend isn't very lady-like, you know,"

"I'm not flirting with you!"

Heine rolled his eyes. "Hmm… I didn't hear you denying that he's your boyfriend, so…"

Lunamaria growled.

"All right, all right. Calm down, for crying out loud,"

The girl semi-pouted but kept her composure.

"I'm going hunting. Would the two of you like to follow me?" Heine asked to the two of them.

"Hunting?" Athrun asked.

"Turkey. Preferably on rye with cheese slices in between,"

"That would overwhelm the turkey's taste," Lunamaria commented.

Heine shrugged, "Leave it to an expert to offer an advice. However, you still haven't answered the question,"

Lunamaria and Athrun shared a look. They had to go to the hanger. Despite the transfer order for Justice and Impulse being given from the top, they felt that it would be better for them to supervise the preparations. "I'm sorry, Heine, but we have somewhere to go. Perhaps tomorrow,"

"Don't do it in Luna's room; you might scare her sister," Heine joked. Upon seeing Luna's glare, he took a step back. "Come on, I was just joking. Besides, it's not that bad to spread the news that the two of you are an item, you know,"

Athrun had to hold Luna from doing something that might cause her to be court-martialed. "Heine, we have a job to do,"

"Business before pleasure, eh? All right, I'll take a rain check," Heine said as he resumed walking. Just as he was next to Athrun, he stopped and said in a soft voice, "Since you're going to check up on the preparation, Athrun, you might consider asking the crew to install a camera module on the back of your mobile suit,"

"And why would I want to do that?"

A smirk appeared on Heine's face. "I think the answer's quite obvious, Athrun," He then broke into a large grin and slapped Athrun's back heartily. "It's the current mods trend; a commander has to stay on top of the fashion trend, you know," Heine then started walking toward the cafeteria. "See you guys later," he called out cheerfully, leaving confused Athrun and Lunamaria behind him.

* * *

Djibril stood over the command platform overlooking Daedalus base with a scorn on his face. "No thanks to Copland, I have to leave Azores and come here in hope of being able to finish that Dullindal bastard with Requiem," He turned toward the nearby general. "After spending all that money building this weapon, you're telling me that we can't fire it?" 

The officer tipped his cap nervously. "If we fire at Gibraltar, there's a significant chance that it will fail,"

"WHAT!" the LOGOS leader shouted

"Requiem was built to fire at Coordinator's home, not at Earth,"

"Explain,"

Although he could explain it, the general didn't want to bear the brunt of Djibril's anger. Besides, the explaining part should be handled by someone with more authority. Keeping those in mind, he paged for someone to come to the command centre. Five minutes later, a meek looking scientist entered the room. "This is Dr. Powell that heads the technical staff. He'll be able to explain why Requiem isn't really effective against targets on Earth,"

Dr. Powell bowed toward Djibril in reverence before assuming a body stance normally associated with lecturers and teachers. "As Lord Djibril knows, Requiem uses massive beam emitter to fire a large concentrated beam to destroy a particular target,"

"Yes, I know that," Djibril said, his anger lessening at seeing how the scientist was treating him appropriately. "Please continue,"

"To help aim the weapon at a particular target, we're using used colonies fitted with Geschmeidig Panzer that will deflect the beam several times until it hit the target,"

"Go on,"

"The problem we have in attacking Earth is that unlike PLANTs and the Moon, we have to take into account the Earth's rotation as well,"

"What do you mean?"

"When we fire at a target on the moon, this base, the reflectors and target are all in the same orbit. Likewise, if we attack PLANTs, we don't have to care about where's we're firing since as long we hit the original target, it doesn't matter if we hit the other places as well," The scientist was an anti-Coordinator fanatic. "But if we're to attack Earth, the final station must be near to the target,"

"Why?"

"It's so that we can ensure that we'll have a higher probability of hitting the place accurately without hitting other places,"

"You're saying that we can hit London or other places by mistake?"

"Yes. And that itself already made attacking difficult without taking blooming into account,"

"Blooming?"

"The atmosphere causes the beam to disperse over a larger area, diminishing the beam's effectiveness. Also, the angle of fire, the humidity in the air as well as other factors may cause the atmosphere to refract the beam similar to Geschmeidig Panzer,"

"Causing the beam missing the target completely," Djibril finished quietly, not liking the conclusion. "Wait. You said that the beam will disperse just now,"

"Your cunning mind amazes me, Lord Djibril. It is as you suspected. The beam will certainly heat up the atmosphere. I'm not sure the effect though,"

Djibril massaged his temples in an effort to calm himself. He would need something stiff to calm his nerve; probably vodka or bourbon would do. "That means we can't take the risk. I don't care about Egypt or China as those places are inhibited by bloody idiots, but I may hit London or even Washington," He then suddenly walked out of the place, a scowl on his face.

Powell turned toward the other man left. "I guess he's ticked off because we can't fire at Gibraltar or Moscow,"

Someone entered the room, saluted and handed the general something. "Well, this is interesting," he said after the man left. He smiled at Powell, "Looks like I'll be able to be the bearer of good news after the bad one you have delivered,"

* * *

Comfortably seated on a stool, Mu La Fllaga lazily watched a crane lifting some crates for loading into Archangel. When his request for some fresh air was granted, he didn't expect his cuffs to be removed as well. The people onboard the legged ship was too trusting for their own good. Not that he would betray their trust. He had recovered enough memory to realize that he wasn't really Neo Lornoke, but the Mu Fllaga he had vehemently disavow when he was first captured by Archangel. However, he decided that it would be best for him to take a cue from that Allster girl and play the role of an amnesiac. It was an irony that, Mu mused to himself, he had once asked whether humans would be better off with or without bitter memories. 

"Hey," a feminine voice called.

He turned toward the newcomer and smiled. "Hey to you too,"

Murrue took another stool and sat next to him. "How are you doing?"

"Pretty good I guess,"

"Glad to hear that,"

Looking at her, Mu asked, "So, why am I being let loose without a keeper?"

"You would prefer us to treat you like a Labrador or a Retriever?"

He chuckled. "Nah. I'm more like a German Shepherd," he said while letting his eyes feast on her. "I sure would like to keep you in line,"

"I'm not German," Murrue huffed. "Besides, do you go around trying to pick up every female on the opposing sides?"

"No, I have a higher requirement. Only a Captain and above would fit the bill,"

Murrue laughed, her eyes sparkling in merriment. But then her expression changed as she pondered her words carefully. "You would be released soon," she said as she looked down.

Mu looked at her and then at his hands. "I'm free right now,"

"You know I don't mean about that…" she almost said Fllaga but stopped halfway. Calling him by the name Mu was also out of question as it would acknowledge the fact that he wasn't the same person. Steeling her nerves, she continued, "Despite the current hostility between Attha and the Alli… er… Djibril, she thinks that it fits that you'll be released,"

"Always busy, that girl,"

Not noticing the slip-up, Murrue nodded. "Since her father died in the first war, she's been trying to run the country as best as she could,"

"I personally think that she's trying too hard," Mu said as his eyes found another fine specimen in the form of a blonde technician who was passing by. Realizing the look he got from Murrue, he quickly turned back to her. "When's my deportation?"

"A week at most. We'll contact them tomorrow or the day after to make the arrangement,"

"A week, eh? I know this request sounds ridiculous… but since they don't know that I'm alive, may I here stay here for a longer period?"

Murrue gave him a suspicious look. "Why?"

Sighing, Mu replied, "It's because I don't feel comfortable going back now; I have a personal issue to settle,"

"I'll try, but I think there will be no problem,"

Mu got up. "Thanks. Time for me to return to the sick bay. The injured has to rest you know," he said jokingly, referring to the fact that they held him under custody there for so long that it has become his de-facto room. Even after he was released and put under probation, he stayed there.

"By the way, Kira told me that you're writing a book"

The Phantom Pain colonel scratched the back of his head. He did say to him that he was writing a book, but it was just a joke. But then an idea took seed and he smiled. "Well, I'm currently gathering some resources… why, do you want to become my editor?"

A genuine smile was on Murrue's lips. "I would be delighted to,"

He bended down and stole a kiss on her cheek. "If you're _bad_ I'll let you edit my book as well," he whispered in her ear before withdrawing and walked away, grinning. Mu didn't have to look back to know that Murrue's face was as red as a ripe tomato.

* * *

Kira continued to enter the commands into the cockpit's computer until it finally beeped and began to display several diagrams, signaling that the programming of Freedom has been completed. "Strike Freedom," he reminded himself. The new mobile suit will be a testament to his determination to fight for peace and to end the war. According to what he could glean from the battle footages and data stolen from ZAFT, Strike Freedom would at least be comparable to Destiny if not even more powerful. It would be up to him to use its power to the maximum. 

"Kira," a melodious voice called out a bit hesitatingly.

He looked out of the cockpit and saw Lacus. Smiling, he got out of the mobile suit cockpit and floated down toward her. "I was just finishing the work on Strike Freedom,"

"That's good…" the pink haired songstress answered absentmindedly.

"Yes, isn't it?" he said as he glanced at Strike Freedom, "I just hope that with this we can help bring peace to the world,"

"But what about us, Kira?" she whispered.

Despite being faint, every one of her words was audible to Kira's enhanced hearing. "Lacus?"

"No… no… it's nothing," she said while putting on a happy face.

Kira knew that something was bothering Lacus and he had a sinking feeling that it has something to do with him. "Lacus, is there something wrong?"

Lacus didn't answer immediately but instead went on to take his hand. Then, letting her body relax in his presence, she answered "Kira, I… I don't know. I feel scared,"

He encircled her in his arms. "About what?"

She buried her face on his chest, "About us,"

Pressing Lacus against him even closer, Kira asked, "What do you mean?"

"Kira… I know it's wrong, but I… I feel jealous,"

Never in those two years that the two spent together, had Kira heard Lacus admitting her jealousy. It almost felt surreal. He had a feeling that he knew what it was but he had to ask. "Why?"

"I don't know. Is she beautiful? Is Fllay beautiful?" she asked as she raised her head to look at him. Unshed tears glistened in her eyes.

Kira felt his heart break at her sad expression. To have her having that face because of him; it wasn't something he ever wanted to happen. "You're beautiful and it's enough for me,"

"But Fllay is beautiful, isn't she?"

He closed his eyes, knowing that he should lie to her. "Yes, she is,"

Lacus gently tried to withdrew from Kira's embrace while giving off a forced smile. "I'm sorry. I'm not supposed to feel this way," She tried to laugh it off but was unsuccessful. "This is strange isn't it? Even though we're in the middle of a war, I still let myself think about things like…"

Before Lacus could finish her sentence, Kira put a finger on her lips to silent her. He then pulled her toward him again. "Shh… It's okay," He closed his eyes. He and Lacus had been together for more than two years. It was Lacus that had helped him to overcome his grief when he lost Fllay and it was her that stayed with him. As one of his hand moved to rub her back, Kira realized that he was being unfair to her by betraying her trust in him. For someone who was young, Lacus was being burdened by heavy responsibilities, responsibilities that he sure couldn't shoulder. But she managed to do it. All Kira need to do was to be there for her, to support her. But he forgot that on a whim when he met Fllay once more. "Lacus, I still remember what I promised to you fifteen months ago. My happiness would be to make you happy,"

"Kira," she whispered as she hugged him back.

Then both withdrew their heads to look at each other. Then they closed the distance to share a kiss. To Kira, that kiss was a promise from him to her, a promise that surpassed all others. He had forgotten that he had extracted a similar promise and even more from the soul of another woman; a lost woman who was waiting patiently for him in spite of the stabbing emptiness in her longing heart.

* * *

1

* * *

**Author's note (14****th**** May 2007)**

1. I once said to someone that it's quite easy to write a love triangle. Just write about a bitch (or bastard) and a perfect being vying the love of someone who's quite clueless. It is considerably harder and more complicated to write a love triangle where the choice is bit blurry and not as simple. In real life, the second kind happens more frequently. I've seen how someone I know faced this problem and it was very… very messy.

2. It does seem like Kira is doing something despicable but please look it at another angle. What he did was to decide upon a stand (which will hurt Fllay) rather than being irresolute (and hurt both of them). Of course, it goes without saying that this will have an impact on everything.

3. I chose to follow the second route and I still say it's damn hard. The reason being that I can't portray Lacus very well (I personally feel the GSD version is a bit… conflicting, and I forgot about the GS version) but I tried my best. Hopefully it's as close to her as possible. I read through some Kira x Lacus stories to get a feel of her character but somehow almost all that I read are… how do I say this… disappointing. A notable good story is 'Heartshaped Pendant' by Inu-chan8970.

* * *

Return to Top 


	48. Escape from Gibraltar

"DAMN YOU ATHRUN!" Yzak shouted as he grabbed hold of the man's collar. "You disappeared after that day, never contact any one of us and only now you appear in front of me as A GODDAMNED FAITH?"

Athrun looked at Dearka shrugging behind the temperamental commander. "Good to see you too,"

"I DIDN'T SAY IT WAS GOOD TO SEE YOU!!"

"Okay, it's bad to see you then,"

"I DIDN'T SAY THAT EITHER!"

"Our commander here swallowed a microphone when he was small," Dearka said as he walked to the front and extended a hand to Lunamaria who was watching the exchange with a confused expression.

"I DID NOT!"

Dearka glanced at Yzak before turning back toward Lunamaria. "I rest my case. Name's Dearka, and you are?"

"Lunamaria Hawke," the Impulse pilot said as she accepted the offered hand.

"Welcome to our ship," the blonde pilot said as he bowed. "It's certainly a pleasure to see you here"

Yzak shoved Dearka to the side. "And I'm the commander, the one _in charge_ of this idiot and this ship. Yzak Joule,"

"Pleased to meet you," Lunamaria said as she shook his hand.

"Ever charming, eh, Yzak?" Dearka said knowing that Yzak would probably blow his top but wouldn't do anything except chew his head off.

"At least I'm not flirting with everyone I met like you," Yzak scoffed.

Subconsciously Athrun took half a step toward Lunamaria. That didn't go unnoticed by Dearka who decided to play dumb for the moment. "So, Athrun. Despite Yzak pretending not to know your exploits for the past few months, it seems that you've been pretty busy,"

Athrun smiled warmly. "I guess. But the two of you have been quite busy as well,"

"Oh, we're not that busy, Athrun. That's why instead of taking care of PLANTs safety, I get to be your goddamned chauffeur and drive you around wherever you want to go. By the way, would you like me to get you something to drink as well?" Yzak said, mockery dripping from his words.

Missing Yzak's sarcasm, Athrun replied, "Sure. I would like some coffee. How about you, Luna?"

"If it's okay with the commander, I would like some hot chocolate,"

Yzak went off muttering about stupid orders being given by ZAFT's high command and later returned with two bottles to shove in Athrun's hands. "Here! One for you and one for your girlfriend! Now can you tell me why in the world we're drafted to provide escort to you? No clue, no reason, no nothing! Just an order to provide cover to Sihanouk and Zala!"

Athrun handed one bottle to the girl next to him. "Explaining it would be a bit time consuming, so here," he said while handing a document to Yzak.

After reading it, Yzak tossed the document to Dearka. "They're only thinking about it now?" He gestured toward Lunamaria. "She knows about it?"

"Yes. The chairman gave her the clearance. And to answer your first question, I don't know why, so don't ask me," He thought for a moment. "But any time is as good as any,"

Yzak was about to ask further questions when Dearka put a hand on his shoulder. "Yzak, why don't we continue this later?"

The white-haired officer glared at him for a few seconds before calling an adjutant to show Athrun and Lunamaria to their respective rooms.

After they had left, Dearka grinned. "Seems like Athrun found himself a new one,"

"I don't care about it,"

"Because you didn't notice about it,"

"I know about it when he didn't deny it. But unlike you, Dearka, I have more important concerns to think of,"

"Such as?"

"If you forgot, Dearka, Athrun and Kira fought a few times,"

"Nothing new. Happened in the first war."

"Yes… but," Yzak trailed off as a frown appeared on his face.

"But?" Dearka pressed.

Yzak remained silent.

Meanwhile, Athrun and Lunamaria were moving behind the adjutant when he decided to ask a question. "Luna, I know I shouldn't be nosy, but I've been wondering about what you told your sister before we launch,"

"That?" Luna asked before laughing a little. "Nothing much. I told her that since I wouldn't be with her for quite some time, she must remember to eat, bathe and sleep and not to remain cooped up in the room,"

"Are you kidding?"

"No, I'm serious,"

Athrun raised his eyebrows. "Why would she do that?"

"She's into puzzles and brainteasers. Meyrin's been trying to crack a particular puzzle. Probably an S-class,"

They arrived at their rooms which were next to each other and after thanking the adjutant, Athrun asked again, "S-class?"

"Her way of describing the puzzles. C would take few minutes while B in few hours," She put a finger under her chin. "Um… A-class would just take two or three days at the most,"

"And the S-class?"

"S-class would be something like cipher or code to be broken; she also gives that designation to lost languages or anything that takes more than few weeks,"

"I don't know your sister is into that. I probably can compare some notes with her,"

Luna gave him a mock jealous glare for few seconds. "You know, Meyrin's really that good," she said with pride in her voice. "When we're kids, I used to bribe her with puzzle books so that she would keep my tales of mischief quiet," She smiled. "Unlike her big sister, Meyrin would never get herself into big trouble,"

She had no idea how wrong she was.

At that same moment, Meyrin was hyperventilating as she stood on the ledge outside her room window in the middle of a murky night. She neither considered herself to be an active person nor a brave person to be doing things like that but she had no choice. Either she stood precariously on the small space or she could just turn herself in to the people who currently rummaging in her room. But given that what she did, Meyrin didn't think that she would simply get away just like that.

It was all due to that stupid puzzle she just couldn't resist cracking. Oh, her sister did warn her not to let the puzzle occupy her life, she thought venomously, but it seemed that it might take her life as well. When she downloaded the puzzle off some obscure electronic board, she did it out of boredom. To say that she was shocked by its content was a major understatement. Never did she realize that the puzzle contains detailed plans by Gilbert, including the colony drop incidents. While she could easily dismiss them as elaborate hoaxes by LOGOS, she nevertheless followed the evidence trail in order to verify the claims by the puzzle's author. While Meyrin knew what she did would be breaking the law, she felt compelled to do it in order to prove that the chairman was innocent.

In the end, she failed to do it and instead convinced herself of his involvements in those matters.

She also put herself in dire danger.

"Did you see her?" someone asked from inside her room.

"No," a second voice answered.

"Nothing's here," The statement told the pursued person that the number of people after her at least three.

"Keep searching. She wouldn't be able to get far in such a short time," the first one said. "The chairman wanted her apprehended without causing too much of a ruckus,"

"Maybe she's in other rooms," someone else suggested.

"All right," the first one said, "we'll split the squad into two. One will take the west wing and the other the east,"

The whole squad was chasing her.

Finally, in what seemed an eternity, there were sounds of footsteps leaving the room and Meyrin exhaled a long breath. Just as she was about to congratulate herself for being able to keep silent, a man's head appeared at the opened window next to her. Instinctively, her hand flew into action and chopped the man's neck before he turned toward her. The man's body crumpled as he became unconscious. Horrified at what she did, Meyrin quickly looked inside the room. To her relief, he was the only person in the room. Quickly getting inside, she searched the man for anything useful and settled on the communication radio and the pistol strapped to his hip. Despite slight hesitation at first, she quickly undressed the man as his Military Police's uniform could be useful. After putting the then tied-up and gagged man inside her wardrobe, Meyrin quickly put on the man's slightly larger uniform. She didn't know what she should do next but Meyrin Hawke had decided that she would fight for her life.

If she made it out of the current predicament, she would join Puzzle Anonymous and swore off cracking all kind of puzzles except Sudoku and crossword puzzle… and maybe she could still continue cracking some cryptography formulas; not to forget some unsolvable mathematical equations.

Meyrin had to slap herself to refocus her attention on the current situation. It was obvious that her irrational thoughts were caused by the gripping fear she was experiencing at that time. However, for her own sake, she had better calm down and start to think in a logical manner. She thought about what her sister would do if she was in the same situation. Probably run. But how? Unlike Lunamaria who was really trained to fight as a soldier, Meyrin was supposed to play supporting role away from battle.

It was then she noticed something on the table and her mind began to spring into action.

Oblivious to what was happening not far from the canteen where he was at, Heine would have been contented as he sat on the chair with a half-eaten sandwich in his mouth and a cup of tea on the table. Of course, that would have been the case if not for the young man who was seated in front of him with a frazzled look that ruined his appetite. "So, what are you doing here?" he asked after swallowing his food.

"I couldn't sleep," Shinn answered.

"Why don't you have a cup of tea?"

"Everyone knows that tea prevents sleep because of the caffeine retarding the function of adenosine in the brain,"

"So? You've been unable to sleep anyway,"

"I need someone's opinion, and since you're here, I wonder if I can get it from you,"

"Go on," Heine said as he took another bite.

Sighing, the former continued, "Look, I realized that some of my actions were wrong. Although the official reports stated that my action weren't wrong but in the hind sight I couldn't remove the guilty feeling I have, so I need your evaluation of the situation,"

'_And thanks to Athrun's rather interesting assignment I have to play shrink to an insomniac pilot,' _Heine thought to himself as he began to smile sweetly at the thought. "You're right, Shinn. Your actions made you a useless piece of shit which deserved to be spit upon and cursed for the rest of your pathetic life," he said in a sugary voice. He mentally relished the sight of Shinn's shocked expression. "Well, that's an opinion, just like you wanted. It doesn't necessarily represents my real opinion though"

"But I…"

"You are hoping for me to validate you action and say that your actions were acceptable, aren't you? Sorry, a spade's a spade and I will not mince words with you. What you did were plain wrong," Heine said with a carefree smile that seemed to annoy the man in front of him. "But trying to change them is impossible. I believe what Athrun would say in this case is, 'What matters now is you learn from them and try to prevent similar mistakes from happening in the future' and all those philosophical observations he would normally say,"

"I… I understand,"

"Good. Now, the first thing you can do is go and get me B2," Heine said as he motioned toward a vending machine.

"Huh?"

"My consultation fee,"

Shinn got up when some MPs entered the room with their guns at ready.

"If you're here to get Shinn, please wait until he's done buying my sandwich," Heine said.

"_Thanks a lot_, commander"

The leader who led the MPs, a sergeant, recognized the FAITH badge on Heine and promptly saluted. He was followed by others. "Sorry to disturb you, sir,"

"You should be," Heine said with a serious look, "You made me spill my tea. It's a courtesy to replace it,"

Shinn would have pointed out that Heine drank the tea but decided to keep quiet.

As the sergeant went on to buy the replacement from another vending machine, Heine asked, "So what happened?"

Distracted by Heine's order, the sergeant forgot their order to keep their mission classified, "We have to catch a fugitive,"

"Get me Earl Grey. So no luck in catching him?"

"It's a she, sir, a girl. Despite being told that she's just a regular enlist, she's really a slippery one," the sergeant said as he put the cup in front of Heine.

"Thanks. Good luck on your mission," Heine said casually as the MPs saluted and left the room.

Shinn looked at the open door. "A fugitive in the middle of the base?"

"Not your concern, Shinn," Heine said as he brought the cup of tea to his lip. After taking a sip, he put down the cup and continued, "But it might better for you to return to your room. In their haste, they may prone to errors, and with your current state, well, you get the picture,"

"Okay, okay. I'll go back to my room," Shinn huffed as he got up. "By the way, Heine, thanks,"

"You're welcome," Finally alone in the cafeteria, Heine took another sip. "A girl, is it? Oh well, I guess maybe it's not my concern,"

Twenty minutes later, sirens blared throughout the base, waking everyone up and caused a minor panic to ensue. A cautious radar operator has detected multiple unknown signatures moving toward the base at high speed. Instantly, terse orders were issued to the pilots to launch in their mobile suits to engage the probable hostiles. As the ground crew scrambling to refit some of the unarmed ZAKUs and GOUFs and the communication channels became saturated with brief chirps from the mobile suit pilots and their controllers, a lone ZAKU started to walk out of an abandoned hangar and then took off toward east, unlike others which were going westward. It remained undetected until someone noticed its flight vector and tried to establish a communication link with it but to no avail. The information was relayed to the commander who immediately ordered two flights of mobile suits which had just took off to intercept it.

While all of the active mobile suits were either moving to fight enemies which weren't there or chasing after a mobile suit moving dumbly toward a fixed coordinate, another mobile suit, this time a GOUF sprung to life. Unlike the first one, it quickly ran along an empty street until it ran through the base's southern fence, missing a sentry post by just a few meters before finally taking off. The guards were dumbfounded until a jeep driven by one of their officers arrived and sounded its horn at them while shouting them to quickly contact the base immediately.

The news about another mobile suit escaping was received with shock by the officer in charge of arresting Meyrin. He quickly contacted Gilbert. "Sir, we have a situation here,"

Gilbert's face was everything but happy. "Indeed. We have enemy moving to attack Gibraltar and a single deserter heading east. Is there any other problem that I should be aware of?"

The officer in charge chose his word carefully. "I believe the person who cracked open the files is behind this,"

"You mean the one we're trying to identify caused all of this?"

"Yes,"

"What a dangerous person," Gilbert said softly. "So, have we ascertained the person's identity?"

"Yes, sir. It's Meyrin Hawke of Minerva,"

Gilbert couldn't be more surprised. "The sister of Lunamaria Hawke?"

"Yes, sir,"

A frown appeared on Gilbert's face. "The situation is direr than I expected. I will take over the whole affair,"

After saluting, the officer signed off.

Without waiting, the other man contacted Minerva. "I want Rey Za Burrel to prep up for launch as soon as possible,"

Less than five minutes later, his foster son's face appeared on the monitor. "Yes, Mr. Chairman,"

Sighing, Gilbert said, "You have heard about the stolen mobile suit? The second one that took off after the first one lured our sentries away"

Rey nodded.

"Meyrin Hawke is piloting it,"

"I see," Rey said, unfazed by the revelation.

"I know what I request is a bit difficult, but I need you to take her down as she probably knows too much,"

"I understand," was the reply without an inch of indecision.

"And please keep it quiet. I will prepare the cover story for her disappearance from Minerva,"

Legend took off in pursuit of the escaping mobile suit a few seconds later.

Rey would have been surprised to learn that the quarry that he was seeking was on the ground at that time, looking at his mobile suit as it sped off into the horizon. Turning back to the communication set in her hand, Meyrin said to the other person on the line, "I'm not sure about the GOUF that had just run away but I saw one of our jeep is moving toward the same direction, probably chasing it,"

"…."

"Yes"

"…"

"Wait. I have problem contacting the jeep. Maybe the com set on it is broken,"

"…"

"I can see a jeep coming my way. I'll tell them,"

Meyrin put the phone down, trying to ignore her shaking knees. She never though that things proceeded so smoothly. After she had broken through the radar network, she had considered running using a mobile suit immediately. However, she realized that despite knowing how to pilot a mobile suit, an experienced pilot like Rey could easily catch up to her. So she programmed the laptop her sister bought for her for her birthday and rigged it to the runaway GOUF's cockpit. When Rey or other pilots caught up to it, the computer would run through a randomized series of maneuvers, making it look as if it was her who was piloting it. Hopefully it would be enough to stall for time for her to make her getaway.

As the ZAFT jeep stopped in front of her, Meyrin swallowed her nervousness and tried to muster a commanding voice. "All right. It seems like we're not sure what happened here, but your order is to stand guard at this place while I go and get the other group that is following the escapee. Is that clear?" She wasn't sure whether it was the uniform, but she sounded more commanding than usual.

"Yes Ma'am!"

The salutes she got from the soldiers were proof enough. Not wanting to waste any time, she got into her own jeep. "And remember, until new orders come from the command, you're not to let anyone through come in or get out,"

"Yes Ma'am!"

After saluting back, she drove away while mentally calculating the time she had. Taking Legend's speed into consideration, Rey should be able to intercept the GOUF in forty minutes. With her damaging the radio at the sentry guard, it would give her a fifty minutes lead against her ground pursuers. With luck she would be able to get away from their search by then.

Unfortunately, it seemed that getting out of the base safely used up most of her luck. A scant hour later, her pursuers had already closed the distance and cut off her escape route. She had managed to derail some of her pursuers by puncturing their jeep's tire with a lucky shot, but it still wasn't enough.

To make it worse, ZAFT had also sent few mobile suits as well, forcing her to finally abandon her jeep in a bush. She was trekking through thick undergrowth when she heard an engine sound. Meyrin quickly dropped to the ground in the nick of time as a single GINN flew over her. It never turned back and the fugitive girl carefully got up to continue on. But, to her consternation, she found herself standing on a cliff overlooking the Alboran Sea.

"That pilot who flew over just now; he's really a green one, isn't he?" a masculine voice remarked.The statement clearly had a double meaning to it. Besides the fact that the pilot piloting the mobile suit was probably a normal ZAFT pilot who had green uniform, it also referred to him as a greenhorn; an inexperienced pilot.

However, Meyrin was in no mood for word games. "Who's there?" she hissed as she pointed her gun toward the direction where the sound came from.

She saw a shadow slowly made its way toward her.

"Don't move or I would shoot," she said, her hold on the gun a bit shaky.

"Are you sure you want to do that, Miss Poppins?" Heine said as his visage came into view.

Meyrin gasped. "How did you find me?"

"Simple, really as I'm leading one of the search parties,"

She tightened her grip on the gun.

"If you shoot me, you would alert the others,"

"If you're with them, then it would be the same," she replied as determination caused her tremble to stop. "I will die nevertheless,"

"Since you'll die anyway whether you shoot me or not, why not take the risk and listen to what I have to say?" he said as he continued walking toward her, his hands slightly raised to show that they were empty. He chose an old log not far away from where she was standing and sat. "They have surrounded the area, so you escaping here is a bit improbable. Now, despite your predicament, we do have a few more minutes before they come here," He shrugged. "In all honesty, I was quite surprised to learn that the person they're after is you. After all, you're not exactly the kind of person that, you know, cause chaos in the ZAFT's HQ?"

"Sorry for making you feel disappointed," Meyrin said humorlessly, fatigued.

"So mind telling me what did you do?"

Meyrin thought about whether she should tell him or not but decided that it wouldn't matter anyway. "I hacked into the ZAFT's top secret files and discovered something that I shouldn't have seen,"

"And that is?"

"Everything about the war is just a big lie. While LOGOS wants to eliminate all Coordinators, what we're planning to do is even worse,"

"You're referring to the Destiny Plan? Why do you think it's bad?"

Meyrin laughed bitterly, something out of character with her. She knew that he was trying to fish more information but she was beyond caring. Probably due to the hopeless situation she was in. "Are you referring to the eternal peace or the eternal servitude?"

For once, the calm look on Heine disappeared.

"I rather let LOGOS kill me rather than let ZAFT continue with it," Meyrin said coldly. "We talk about their vile experiments in Londoniba, but at the same time plan for similar experiments on a larger scale,"

His calm mask back in place, Heine asked, "You talk about something quite big… and significant; something that can cause the Council to evict the Chairman even in this current state. Now, I assume you have enough proofs?"

Meyrin patted the pocket on her uniform. "Yes, but I don't think anyone would believe me or the evidence,"

"But you believe it?"

"Yes,"

Before they could continue the conversation, they heard shouts heading their way. Heine quickly got up and wrestled Meyrin's gun away from her before she could even react. He then fired off a few random shots using the gun. "I guess we have no choice now," he commented as he threw the gun on the ground.

"What are you doing?"

"I think that's pretty easy to figure out,"

"So you can claim medal for capturing me?" Meyrin asked quietly. "Or is it so that they will come here faster?"

"Your comment really stab me in the heart, Miss Poppins. I wanted to make it look like we're fighting,"

"Then what?"

Heine smiled. "We try to escape, of course,"

"How? We're stuck on a cliff!"

"Meyrin, do you know that Mary Poppins uses her parasol to fly?"

"Yes, but I don't have any parasol," she said, silently wondering why she gave that reply.

The foreign voices became louder and louder as her pursuers made their way to the place.

His smile became wider as he put his arm around her waist. "Well, I suppose you have to learn to fly without one," With one swift movement, he jumped off the cliff, bringing Meyrin with him, into the dark water below.

* * *

1

* * *

**Author's note **

1. First of all, I guess I need to address concern forwarded to me regarding the previous chapter. The main story is still about Kira and Fllay relationship. Sorry for those who wanted otherwise; however, there's a large number of dedicated Kira x Lacus you can search for in this site.

2. I already have a general outline of this and the next chapter for quite some time, earlier than the survey that I conducted sometime last year. At that time I already considered few paths that I can take but in the end decided to take this one.

3. For those who had read my alternate storyline that I temporarily posted few months ago, you would notice a significant difference in what happened. Of course, that chapter is slightly more 'action-packed' as it follows the original phase in GSD where Athrun defects. Having to face the problem alone, I believe that Meyrin would take a more cerebral approach (and I had to resist transforming her into a Lara Croft clone).

4. While I initially planned for the next one to follow this one shortly, I think it would probably released according to the schedule (2 weeks from now) as there are some technical issues that needed to be ironed out. Because I view that fight scenes are essential to Gundam, I want to do a proper fight scene, especially since it involves Strike Freedom's debut. Just don't expect a '_Super Robot_' fight like shown in the later part of GSD. I tried my best to adhere _'Real Robot'_ genre for this story and wouldn't follow what I believe to be Mitsuo Fukuda's '_Super Robot_' version of Gundam.

5. Thank you to Lambda123 for the instruction on how to fire a gun.

* * *


	49. The price of justice and freedom

Andrew, looked out of the window at the vast space, lost in thought. He then took a sip of coffee from a water bottle in his hand and a frown marred his already scarred face. "Damn. The mixture is a bit bitter. Five grams more coffee than what is needed to blend with the vanilla. It wouldn't be a good day,"

"Captain?" Da Costa called out.

"Oh, it's you," Andrew asked, referring to the message from Athrun asking to meet to negotiate for a possible peace negotiation between ZAFT and Terminal. He knew that Lacus, as well as Kira, would have a tough time trying to decide regardless of their personal feelings. Despite being talented, they were still young, after all. "Her decision?"

"We'll meet them,"

"I see," he said simply.

"You don't seem to be too happy about this, sir. May I know why?"

He sighed. "Don't tell her about what I'm about to tell you,"

Da Costa nodded.

Andrew held out a tablet for the other man to see. As he predicted, the man was shocked as well. "Yes, two ZAFT officers in Gibraltar were kidnapped and subsequently killed by suspected LOGOS operatives," He snorted. "The higher ups tried to cover their disappearance by saying that they were suddenly reassigned to another ship due to some personnel shortage,"

"This is certainly quite surprising. Wait… Athrun's still pushing for the negotiation?"

"He probably didn't know because of the radio silence. It's the norm for secret operation such as this one,"

"Who knows what Djibril was planning when he had the two abducted? I think it is strange that ZAFT didn't tell him about this,"

Andrew took another sip before shrugging. "Me too," He let go of the bottle and watched as it remained suspended in the air. To his surprise, he suddenly found his though being invaded by the image of his dead lover. _"Aisha," _he thought forlornly before mentally shaking his head to clear his mind. Some people say time will heal wounded hearts, but to Andrew, as time went by, his love for her grew. It was the same reason why he didn't go after Murrue after the war despite her being an attractive woman. In the end, it was for the best as Kira told him that they managed to recover an amnesiac Mwu from Berlin. Andrew personally thought that he cheating death in the dessert was already incredible; Mwu surviving after the battle in space was nothing short of a miracle. Then again, there's also _her. _It was strange that Kira didn't talk much about that girl.

"Sir?" Da Costa asked slowly.

"Huh?" Andrew grunted as he shifted his attention to the other man. "Can you repeat what you've just said?"

"The three mobile suits are undergoing the final building phase,"

"Oh. By the way, Da Costa. Would you like some coffee?"

The other man looked at him as if he had grown another head.

"What?" he growled.

"Ever since I join to serve under you, you've never offered,"

"Well, there's a first time for everything. I just feel like making one for you, that's all," His face had a slight melancholic look on it. "You know, I've never told anyone about this. Aisha always accused me of loving my coffee more than her, and I had an affair with her despite being happily married to the coffeemaker,"

"Sir…"

Andrew chuckled at the memory before turning back to Da Costa. "I would like you to have my coffeemaker,"

"I can't take that! It's your prized possession,"

Smirking, he said, "I'm thinking of reducing my coffee intake anyway,"

Da Costa could only scratch his head in confusion. For a statement like that to come from the man in frnt of him; it was strange indeed.

Two days later, Kira, in his Strike Freedom was the first one to arrive at the designated place. Andrew had asked him to go first before Eternal would follow suit to ensure that the place was clear. Initially, he was a bit puzzled by the latter's insistence that he launched directly from the base rather than Eternal but he supposed Andrew, with more years of strategy under his belt, probably had good reasons. Kira looked at his chronograph. Forty minutes before the scheduled time. Almost simultaneously, Strike Freedom's radar detected few ZAFT ships as well as Eternal approaching the place. Nine minutes before the appointed time, the first ZAFT mobile suits, Athrun's Infinite Justice came in to visual range, escorted by Impulse, a GOUF and a ZAKU.

As they moved toward each other slowly, Kira looked at Infinite Justice with curiosity. He had seen the footages of the fight in Azores and was impressed with what he saw. The mobile suit was clearly designed for close range fight. Despite what Athrun had helped in bringing down Freedom, Kira couldn't feel any anger for what he did. After all he did the same to Athrun's Savior. However, he did feel a slight urge to press the trigger button when he saw Impulse taking a spot behind his friend's mobile suit. It was just as well he could feel the animosity that was present in the past; the pilot seemed to be a different person. "It's been a while since I last saw you," he said to his friend, breaking the self-imposed radio silence.

"Yeah," Athrun answered.

"Cagalli's been worried sick about you after what happened in Azores,"

"I'm doing fine, Kira,"

Kira wondered why his friend's expression changed when he mentioned Cagalli. Besides, the tone he used was as if he felt somewhat guilty. "So, what now?"

"Impulse and Justice will land on Eternal to discuss with Lacus while Yzak and Dearka, along with you of course, provide protection.

The Terminal's ace looked at the two 'grunts'. From what information he had gleaned on Yzak, the man was promoted as commander. So, he would probably pilot the meaner looking GOUF leaving as Dearka with the other one. "Hello," Kira said as he watched Infinite Justice and Impulse changing their vector toward Eternal.

"Yeah, hello," came Yzak's curt reply.

"How's Mir doing?" Dearka asked.

Kira was about to reply when he suddenly felt something went off in his head along with a hostile intent aimed at the assembled group. "DANGER! EVERYONE EVADE!" he screamed. Unfortunately his warning was a bit late as something hit and tore a large hole at Eternal's portside. To Kira and other witnesses, it was as if watching a television show with the volume on 'silent'. Despite the lack of exploding sound, there was no mistaking the severity of damage as a combination of debris and smoke began to spread away from the gash, propelled by shell's impact as well as air escaping through the hole. "ETERNAL! ETERNAL!"

His voice was barely heard by Andrew who was trying to stabilize his body after the violent quake. As the seasoned commander squint his eye in the dim bridge, personnel checking the ship's diagnostic were reporting damage to the ship. Walls have been punctured, contact to certain sections had been lost and fires have broken out. It was fortunate that whatever hit the ship didn't disrupt the emergency power to be lost as well. Feeling that his face was a bit wet, Andrew ran over it with his hand. But he already knew what was on his face by the lingering coppery scent. Blood.

"Eternal! Are you all right?" Kira's voice continued to ask. A second later, the CIC operator managed to patch his picture to the screen.

"You're a bit loud, boy," Andrew said calmly in spite of the situation.

"You're injured…" Kira commented slowly.

"Huh, you've done worse to me than this," he said while smirking. "Nothing to worry about,"

"How about the ship?"

"The damage is quite heavy"

"Lacus?"

Ignoring alarms all around him, Andrew replied, "Relax," It took a lot of persuasion on his part to convince the pink-haired songstress to agree to his idea. Predictably, Lacus was horrified that Andrew would even suggest that she didn't go to the meeting as it would be betraying ZAFT's good faith. However, the man insisted that since the chairman didn't come himself, it would be proper if Terminal sent another representative. In the end, she didn't cave in to the request which necessitate the use of a drink laced with sleeping pill. It was the same reason why he had sent Kira ahead as he didn't want him to find out. Lacus Clyne was very important to Terminal; he didn't know what would happen if its enemies managed to kill her. "She's okay,"

A beep from his left console alerted Kira of the fact that Lacus was at the base instead of the ship. "How?" he uttered, confused by the turn of the event.

"It's quite obvious, kid. This meeting…"

Andrew never got to finish his speech as another shell hit Eternal's bridge, killing everyone inside it immediately.

"ETERNAL!!!!" Kira shouted in anguish as the ship began to disintegrate slowly in front of his eyes. With tears brimming in his eyes, he turned his attention toward Athrun and his escorts. "Athrun, is this your doing?"

"We didn't do anything!" Athrun cried.

Just then another shot hit Sihanouk, destroying it as well.

"What the hell…" Dearka said, summing the situation well.

"There's nothing in the radar range," Yzak muttered in barely controlled anger and frustration.

Yzak's statement was true. There wasn't any enemy mobile suit in range; Buster was situated well over the range any ship-based radar could have detected. As the mobile suit ejected a spent coolant cartridge from its AT-07 GHV rifle, the pilot contacted Yamashita, the Girty-Lue class ship it assigned to. "Ugly horny red ship destroyed, as per instruction. Shot another stupid ship as well," Unimpeded by gravity and air friction present on Earth, the shots from the rifle had fulfilled their purpose well.

Onboard Yamashita, Captain Dennis Longman nodded his head with satisfaction. Aside from being a competent commander, he was handpicked by Djibril because if his extreme view on Coordinators. In fact, it was rumored that he collect and preserve Coordinator eyes as a hobby, many of them he extracted from live prisoners. "If the ZAFT's chairman is already onboard for the negotiation, then he's as good as dead. Just to be on the safe side, though, we'll have to kill everyone. Give the order for the fleet to begin attack,"

As a group made of various Agamemnon and Drake-class ships, along with their mobile suits complement, began to move toward their objective, he briefly fantasized about the promotion that Djibril had promised him for the successful completion of the mission. LOGOS spies in ZAFT had done their job well by providing it with the information about the secret meeting that was about to take place between Dullindal and Attha onboard Eternal. By killing both of them, LOGOS would be able to throw ZAFT's leadership into disarray as well as punishing ORB for its betrayal.

The fleet's approach was detected by Voltaire which informed Athrun's party. "I'm sorry things turn out this way, Kira. I really am," Athrun said full of regret as Infinite Justice turned to face the oncoming enemies. "I was really was looking forward to the peace negotiation, not this,"

Strike Freedom moved next to Infinite Justice. "I'm sorry for accusing you. Eternal… and he,"

"I know, Kira. Andrew Wartfeld was my friend too. Yzak's and Dearka's as well,"

"I'm sick of this war, Athrun," Kira whispered as his SEED burst. Strike Freedom's boosters came to live and propelled it toward the incoming wave of attackers. Once he had reached the engagement envelope he calmly look at the multiple targets depicted in the cockpit holographic radar, along with their vectors and coordinates and began to visualize their locations in his mind while at the same time entering commands into the targeting computers. Triangles began forming on the targets one by one until there were eight of them. It was then Kira pressed the trigger button.

All eight Super DRAGOON units launched, each one of them had a particular target assigned to them. The first and second units zipped around and quickly destroyed a Windam's head and a Slaughter Dagger's Strike Pack, rendering both units disabled.

Although they were taken by surprise, the LOGOS' pilots quickly reacted to the situation. A mobile suit tried to maneuver away from the DRAGOON unit that was after him by going through a series of tight turns. However, it was pointless as the unit managed to trail the mobile suit; being unmanned allowed it to execute extreme turns and maneuvers that could cause any pilot to black out. It then fired four times, each shot destroying a limb.

The fourth, fifth and sixth units exchanged fires with their quarries, mobile suit pilots who believed that they would stand a better chance of destroying the DRAGOON units rather than trying to outrun them. It was a mistake; it was as if each of them were fighting against Freedom themselves. The DRAGOONs evaded attacks like slippery eels before closing in and putting them out of commission.

One of the pilots had the sense to use his mobile suit's shield to protect against seventh unit's fire. When he set down the shield in order to fire at it, he was surprised to see it has disappeared. Before he could dwell on the disappearance, the unit, just a few meters behind the mobile suit open fire at its head.

The final unit couldn't get close enough to its target, which seemed to be piloted by someone experienced. But even as experienced as the pilot was, he didn't have the spatial awareness needed to evade from another two units that had completed their jobs earlier, as well as Freedom firing at it.

Athrun couldn't believe his eyes. In just less than thirty seconds Kira had defeated eight mobile suits. While the Super DRAGOON's quantum computer could control all of the eight units simultaneously, it needed the pilot's skill to control all of them as just a simple miscalculation could cause all of them to miss. The slight hesitation shown by LOGOS' the attacking force was a testament to that. "Kira, your skill had grown even more," he said as Justice swerved to avoid a beam shot while disengaging its Fatum flight pack. It then fired back at the head of the Dagger that shot at it while the Fatum flightpack pierced through another one that tried to get a cheap shot from the back. While he hated having to kill, Athrun understood the harsh fact that he couldn't possibly last throughout the war without killing anyone.

Despite impressive counterattacks by Athrun to those who tried to attack him, there were still few that thought that Justice would be an easy prey. A pair of updated Sword Calamity got close to Justice to it; their pilots thinking that it couldn't fight effectively at close range. One of them tried to attack using a beam sword while the other aimed its rifle at a spot where Justice would certainly move to evade the attack. The gambit proved fatal when Justice blocked the first one's attack using the MX2002 shield. It then kicked the hand holding the beam sword, the Griffon beam blades on the kicking foot cutting through the arm like hot knife through butter. Then, kicking away the incapacitated mobile suit using another foot, Justice's right hand flailed like a striking cobra at in the direction of the other mobile suit and a Shinning Edge beam boomerang pierced through its cockpit like a giant shuriken. "How are you doing, Yzak?"

"Fine, no thanks to you," Yzak muttered as his GOUF dispatched a Windam effortlessly.

"Gee, how about me?" Dearka whined while his mobile suit fired its Orthros cannon at another one. "Nobody asked about me,"

"People don't care about minor characters, Dearka," Yzak scoffed.

"Such a cruel comment," Dearka said as he shot a mobile suit that was about to stab Impulse in the back.

The combined ZAFT and Terminal's mobile suits making short work out of his mobile suits didn't sit well with Yamashita's commander. "Damn those patchwork bastards! There are only five of them and we still can't kill them?! Tell the trio to join in as well,"

The order was relayed to Buster's pilot who acted as a leader of the trio. "All right Farah, Jack, that's our cue to blast them," he called to the other two.

"I'm not really interested in them. There's no art in their killing methods," Farah, Duel's pilot, said in monotone. "But I'll fight as required,"

"Why do you care? We're the ones who will be doing the killing," Aegis' pilot snorted. "Just remember that Justice is my prey. If the two of you interfere, I will kill you," he continued, bloodlust coloring his voice.

"Well, that's settled then. Farah and I will fight with the Freedom with DRAGOON while you take care of Aegis," Buster's pilot said. "The rest of you, remember the strategy that we're going to use," he commanded the numerous mobile suits behind him. "Wait for the signal,"

The LOGOS fleet fired its missiles toward the ZAFT-Terminal group.

Buster's pilot grinned, rabid eyes glowing in excitement. "Let's go! Shoot to kill!" he shouted while Buster sped off behind the missiles, followed by others.

The missiles mainly converged on Freedom and Justice that move to the front to intercept them and multiple explosions clouded the vast vacuum. But when the last explosion had receded, the two mobile suits were still there, no doubt protected by their respective Phase Shift armor. Duel and Buster quickly dove to fight Freedom while Infinite Justice found itself fighting against its 'twin'. Yzak, Lunamaria, Dearka as well as few recently launched mobile suits from Voltaire also stepped up to fight other LOGOS mobile suits.

It was a furious battle, with so many resources that could have been used to further humankind were being redirected to bring it to an earlier end. As Kira fought off Buster, Duel and their escorts, he couldn't shake the feeling that the first wave of mobile suits were sent as sacrificial lambs to gauge Freedom's capabilities. His current opponents were content to evade his attacks while waiting for him to make a mistake. Their level of cooperation was quite impressive as well. A Dagger had moved to cover one of its partner's back to prevent Kira's DRAGOON from attacking. Any respect that he had felt for their actions evaporated when he saw that they weren't above using disabled mobile suits as shields or tools to get to him.

In a haste to evade an attack from his DRAGOON, a Windam didn't notice that it had strayed close enough to Freedom. As Kira chopped off its limbs and wings, he briefly wondered whether killing instead of disabling them would have made any difference. As a slightly miscalculated shot from his rifle found its mark at a Dagger's main generator, killing it instantly, he surmised that it didn't. It would take him a while to break through the enemy enclosure. Whatever the case, he wouldn't let LOGOS and anyone else would take out people close to him anymore.

Suddenly, Strike Freedom's opponents found themselves hard-pressed to keep up with the single mobile suit.

Meanwhile, Athrun was having a fighting Aegis to a standstill. Aegis' pilot was shrewd enough to fight him from a distance, utilizing its weapons to keep Infinite Justice from getting near. But he wasn't without a plan as well. While in the middle of the fight, Infinite Justice quietly disengage its Fatum flight pack and let it float. Finally, Athrun's bid for time was successful as Aegis moved close to it. Firing his weapons, Athrun watched as the other mobile suit swerved in the direction where he wanted it to be. The Fatum came to life and moved toward the unsuspecting prey.

Somehow, Aegis detected it at the very last minute and twisted out of the way. That was also being taken into account by Athrun as Justice's rifle was already aimed at the same spot where it will end up. He pressed the trigger. Nothing came out.

"What the…" Athrun uttered in disbelief as the main screen of his mobile suit began displaying messages that the operating system was being shut down. At the same time, Infinite Justice's Phase Shift armor began to power down, leaving it with a lifeless grey. Despite the panic surfacing in his gut, he quickly entered multiple diagnostic commands into the console, managing to switch on the backup support system.

"Hey, what the fuck, bastard?" Aegis' pilot voice filtered through the speaker right after the emergency light came online. "And what's with the skin color change?"

Multiple error messages stared back at the blue-haired Coordinator's barely calm face. Such thing shouldn't be happening! A major diagnostic and debugging had been carried out in Gibraltar just after the attack on Azores.

"And why don't you move?"

More and more commands were entered; more and more errors are being uncovered. It was as if a logic bomb had damaged the operating system.

"Move and fight me!"

It would take him at least two minutes to restore the damaged partition; two minutes that he didn't have.

At the same time, Aegis' pilot, angry at the immobile facing it withdrew its beam sword. "If you don't want to fight then die just like the filthy scum you are, "

Despite the rather hopeless and perilous state he was in, Athrun kept working.

"Die, you…" there was a loud crashing sound interrupting the crazed pilot's gloating.

Five slow seconds passed by before Athrun realized that someone had diverted the pilot's attention. At last the main camera began functioning just in time to see a white-colored mobile suit was in front of his, a beam sword was protruding from its back. "Yzak!"

"Someone always had to keep your wet nose out of the… trouble," Yzak said.

"YZAK!"

"Find Heine Westenfluss," Yzak stifled a gasp, "and tell him that I asked you to take over from me,"

Athrun's eyes widened. "What are you talking about?"

Despite his cockpit being half-crushed, Yzak could still see Aegis on the cracked main display. Slowly, his hand reached for a shard of metal that had punctured his stomach and pulled it out, grunting in pain. Blood began to seep through the open wound.

"Heh, why don't you answer him?" the Aegis' pilot taunted. "I'll let you live long enough to say it," he continued before laughing uncontrollably.

The white-haired commander narrowed his eyes, trying to will himself to stay awake. A small smile appeared on his lips. "Heh, Athrun's only dumber than a platypus, not… dumber than you,"

"How dare you…"

"I'm stating the obvious" The GOUF's hands suddenly yanked Aegis's sword, causing the other mobile suit to stumble toward it. Before Aegis could react, it already captured the red mobile suit in a deadly vise.

"Let me go!" Aegis began trashing unsuccessfully against the hold of its captor.

"Sure," Yzak whispered as one of his GOUF's hand moved toward Aegis's cockpit, revealing the four-barrel Draupnir machinegun mounted on it. "I'll show you the way," he said as he pressed on the trigger button. The beam machinegun open fired at pointblank range and the two mobile suits was engulfed in a large explosion.

"Yz.. Yzak…" Athrun sobbed as the cockpit around him came to live. Justice's problem had been fixed, but a very high cost. It was then he felt his head began to clear.

The destruction of Aegis by a mere mobile suit also shocked its two peers. Duel lost its hand to a DRAGOON fire while Buster had almost lost its head to Freedom's attack. "Damn, it's more than we're expecting!" Buster's pilot spat. "Yamashita, we need support!"

Captain Dennis wasn't pleased with what he heard. "What do you mean, you need support?" he snarled.

"They're not dumb enough to get blasted by me!"

"Very well, we'll provide support. Keep them occupied for few more minutes," he said.

As Buster's pilot's face went off the screen, Yamashita' Executive Officer said, "We already launched all of our mobile suits have been launched. And we have almost exhausted our missiles,"

"Prepare the nuclear missiles for firing," Dennis said calmly.

"But our enemy would certainly know we're up to something when our mobile suits start to withdraw,"

"Then we don't," Dennis said. "Sacrificing our mobile suits to kill theirs, which are more powerful is quite acceptable,"

"But…"

"No but," the Yamashita's captain said curtly.

Few minutes later, a single ZAKU reconnaissance unit sent to spy on the battle detected multiple nuclear explosions through its sensors. Its pilot would have moved it closer but the power as well as the air indicators began to turn yellow, telling him that he had to return. Flying toward the direction where it came from, its pilot sent a communiqué, one that would relayed to Gilbert Dullindal's desk as soon as possible. Eternal, Lacus Clyne's ship, had been destroyed along with Sihanouk whose captain who was suspected to be her sympathizer. One of LOGOS' advanced prototypes was destroyed and the nuclear explosions probably took out Infinite Justice, Terminal's new Freedom and other LOGOS prototypes as well.

Operation: 'Slay the nightingale' was considered succesful.

* * *

1

* * *

**Author's note (15 June 2007)**

1. Writing this chapter took me almost a month. Even though I started it almost at the same time as the previous chapter, this is quite complicated. I tried to portray Strike Freedom's debut as best as I could while trying to ensure that it doesn't seem to be overpowered. Although Kira seem to possess NT ability, there's not enough info that I can collect regarding it. Does he control the DRAGOONs using his skill only, or he was assisted by the computer, similar to one on Legend? But I guess he does have a highly evolved spatial awareness. So instead of the 'flat' radar shown in GSD, I took a bit of liberty in depicting SF's radar as a 3D holographic radar that would have served him better in showing the vectors of all mobile suits around it. After all, SF is a space mobile suit.

2. I also took my time in writing this chapter because it's the first time I do a major character death (two, in fact). I wouldn't lie to you that it even got to the point that I considered not making anyone die. But then I feel that if I do that, I will be underestimating my readers. Real war, as shown by Gundam, isn't really something like GI Joe cartoon where no one die or the heroes are supercool all the time (of course, since GI Joe's target audience is children, it's to be expected). War is harsh. It's as simple as that. I believe I'm an optimist, but I have to admit that life is life, no matter whether we look at it optimistically or pessimistically. Coincidentally, when this story is around 90 percent (13th june 2007), my grandmother passed away. So, in her memory (W.Z), I would like to dedicate this chapter.


	50. What makes a human

Kira held Lacus shoulders to comfort her as she continued sobbing at the sight of the coffins in front of them. Despite what other people thought of her, Lacus was still a normal human being; she had her moments of weakness as well. He could still remember the sight of her breaking down when she learned that Eternal was destroyed and none of its crew survived. There were a lot of things he wanted to say to sooth her but he realized that words were not needed at that time. And trying to say that it was all right to her when he himself was experiencing the same thing would make him a liar.

As he looked at the empty coffins that were supposed to hold Andrew, Yzak and the crew members of Eternal, he too felt his eyes began to sting as he began to relive the battle that took their life. The destruction of Eternal ensured that there wouldn't be any body to retrieve. Details recovered from the black box showed that the first shot caused an overload to the reactor, causing it to explode, contrary to the initial belief that the explosion was caused by LOGOS's shots. Nevertheless, the end result was the same. He shuddered as he tried not to think about what would have happened to Lacus if she was on the Eternal at that time.

To say that he was after the killers' blood wasn't really correct as even his anger demanded similar retribution, throughout the battle he constantly reminded himself that he fought in self defense and not for revenge. However, it did entice for him to give in to his killer instinct as at the time, it seemed as if peace would never be achieved.

The LOGOS fleet had thought that its nuclear missiles would take care of Kira and those who were opposing it. He had proven it wrong by engaging Strike Freedom's Super DRAGOONs and shot down all missiles. The two LOGOS prototypes, as well as their escorts seemed to realize that they were ill-prepared to fight him and took the opportunity to leave, along with the fleet.

But their retreat was not without cost, as Impulse had managed to destroy the enemy mother ship while Dearka took care two of its escorting ships. Thinking about Impulse, Kira stole a glance at its pilot who was being held by Athrun. His meeting with her after the battle was quite a surprise as he had expected a male pilot. He later found out that the original pilot had been transferred and was assigned to Destiny.

Then, as his eyes were about to shift back to Lacus, they caught something and his hold on Lacus tightened a bit. The way Athrun was holding the Impulse's pilot was a bit too intimate. It was as if the two of them were quite close. Any doubt about that was put to rest when he saw Athrun kissed her forehead before murmuring something to her, all the while holding her hands. With that conclusion, Kira became angry and disappointed at the same time. His sister would surely be saddened by the revelation that Athrun had gotten someone else. It wasn't fair to her as she waited for Athrun to return, only to be disappointed. Wasn't Cagalli good enough for him?

He had to stop his train of thought when he felt Lacus stirring in his arms. She had finally calmed herself and turned toward the funeral procession. Still holding her, Kira made up his mind to confront Athrun about his relationship with Cagalli later.

Meanwhile the said person was also lost in his own thoughts. The deaths of Andrew and Yzak were painful to accept. It was Yzak who had convinced him to return to ZAFT in order to gain the power to fight for peace. His friend and former rival had said that peace and freedom didn't come without a price and the price was eternal vigilance. And the talk that Athrun had with Andrew was what solidified his decision to rejoin ZAFT. The one-eyed veteran had remarked that it would have been better for Athrun to fight for what he believed in.

"Are you okay, Athrun?" Lunamaria whispered.

Athrun gave a small smile while wiping her damp cheek with his hand. Her red and puffy eyes reminded him that the girl was facing a harder circumstance; they had just learned about what had happened to Meyrin and Heine. She and her sister had been very close. Yet, a scant few hours later she was already asking whether he was feeling fine or not. "We will get through this together,"

Lunamaria nodded and smiled softly as she truly understood the real meaning behind his statement. Athrun had acknowledged that the two of them had shared a very special bond.

Athrun knew that he would have to make a very hard decision, one that could probably ruin his friendship with Kira. But Lunamaria's reaction over his words made it seem worthwhile. He had long accepted the fact that he wanted to be with her, and the previous battle had highlighted that. A Dagger almost got Lunamaria and he quickly took care of it. While it wasn't the first time and probably not the last but it was the first time he felt an eerie sense of gratification when he killed someone. At first, he thought that he was becoming crazy and had begun to enjoy killing other people.

A quiet talk with Dearka had helped to quell his fear, however. The blonde had said that he had also felt the same thing. Dearka pointed out that he feeling was caused by the feeling of powerlessness following their friends' deaths. Because of that, when they took out their enemies, it's natural that they felt the rush. However, the rush wasn't caused by bloodlust; it was due to having the power to change the helplessness. In Athrun's case, the feeling was made stronger by his desire to protect Lunamaria. Athrun had always thought that Dearka was a playboy or a flirt and was pleasantly surprised to see the other man's soft side. "Perhaps Dearka's right…" he whispered to himself.

"Hmm?" Luna questioned.

"It's nothing,"

The two of them turned back to the funeral procession, with Athrun taking Lunamaria's hand into his own.

* * *

As she lied on the bed of the dark room, Fllay tried to ward off any thought that centered on _him. _That was in vain as she might, the Fallen pilot couldn't help herself from doing so. His gentle image kept haunting her mind, as if trying to ensure that she wouldn't forget the nights that they had spent together. 

'' Kira," she breathed his name while hugging herself closely. She longed to meet him. It has been quite a while since she last saw him and the separation has began to take its toll on her mind. Even the socially inept Terrence had noticed the change in her personality, once remarking that she often looked dazed and distracted when not on duty and he was right.

Fllay somehow knew reason why; Ever since Kira made love to her that night, she felt different. Since then, her feelings for him, which were already strong, became more intense. Already they have made her question herself whether it was possible to harbor such strong emotions for him that she could almost feel his whereabouts. Despite not hearing any news regarding him, she knew that he wasn't on Earth.

But the fact was that something like that wasn't normal, even among Coordinators as even they didn't have such ability. That thought began to bring out more uncertainties in her. Were her emotions had been manipulated by the researchers when they brought her back to life? It was quite plausible as she knew that they had the capability to erase memories; who knows what else they could do? After all, it would have been perfectly logical for them to do anything to ensure that she would remain loyal to them. If so, then was it possible that Barzhakov and the rest of the Cherubim crew rescued her before they could succeed in doing so?

Then there was no telling that whatever she was feeling for Kira was something real. The intense longing for him could have been due to the incomplete programming, her guilt of what she did in the past or even both. That would make the _love _she felt for his a farce, nothing more than a fabricated emotion.

A drop of tear rolled down her cheek. Maybe the feeling wasn't real. But why did it hurt so much? She could still feel his touch on her skin, the touch that lit up her soul, making her feel that she was blessed to be alive instead of being damned; when he whispered her name she felt herself soaring to the heaven. She really wanted to believe that the feeling was real.

But there was no prove that the feelings were genuine. Also, Kira already had Lacus.

Fllay hugged herself tighter as she felt her heart constricted even more.

Who was her to even dream of competing against perfection. Lacus Clyne was an epitome of a perfect woman, who, along with her beautiful look and voice, had a very kind and compassionate heart. She could still remember the day when they first met and she had refused to shake the latter's hand, saying that she wouldn't shake the hand of a Coordinator. However, that wasn't really the reason. Even though Fllay had only seen her for a few seconds, she had already hated the latter because she knew that the girl was perfect. So perfect that when Fllay was with her, she couldn't help but feel inferior.

She still hated Lacus as the songstress's existence was like a beautiful sun that spread its warmness throughout the entire plane of existence whereas her own meager existence was not unlike a bothersome and much unneeded weed. Plus, Lacus was a perfect match for Kira, something that she would never be.

Fllay had accepted that cruel fact.

Yet… she still wanted to meet Kira again and be by his side.

* * *

"Sir, it had returned, the ZAFT's officer said to Gilbert," subtly hinting to the ZAFT chairman that the mobile suit that he had sent to spy on Terminal had returned. 

"If you will please excuse me," Gilbert said to the country leaders that were talking to him. "I will be back shortly,"

After the two of them were quite far enough from any prying ears, Gilbert asked, "So no new information on the fate of those involved in the battle?"

"No sir. The pilot had to return back before we confirm what happen,"

"I guess there's no helping it. However, did it get the information on the terrorists' newest weapon?"

"Yes sir, the officer said as he held out a picture of Strike Freedom for Gilbert to see. It looks similar to Freedom. Currently we're designating it as 'DRAGOON Freedom'",

Gilbert examined the picture for a few seconds"It is an appropriate name for it as it seems that this terrorizing weapon mounts DRAGOON units almost similar to the one equipped on Legend. Do we have enough data to identify the pilot's fighting style?" he asked as he returned the picture.

"Yes, it is being programmed into SALVATION's engagement network right now"

"Good. Despite the nuclear explosions, there's a small probability that this... DRAGOON Freedom managed to survive and will attack ZAFT later. That reminds me… have we made contact with either Commander Zala or Joule?"

"No sir. Should we send out our ships to the area to search for them?"

"No. If any one of them survives, they would certainly try to contact us. Just keep monitoring the area but don't send out any ship. We can't risk losing them to LOGOS anymore,"

"Understood,"

"Also, Apart from Freedom, I want all of our pilots' battle data to be downloaded into SALVATION. Give priority to Commander Zala's, beginning from the data we got from Savior. Keep me posted if there's any new development,"

"Yes sir!" The officer said while saluting.

As Gilbert returned to the group, he found that it was hard to keep a smirk from forming. His plan was a complete success. Just as he had predicted, LOGOS had fell for it hook, line and sinker. Now, thanks to Djibril's 'help, he had gotten rid of the most dangerous opponent that he had ever faced, the white queen. Of course, great success necessitated sacrificial lambs to be used and Zala, along with others that accompany him would have Gilbert's eternal gratitude for fulfilling that role to the very end.

Even if they had miraculously survived the LOGOS' nuclear attack along with Freedom, Gilbert had no doubt that Athrun would rejoin him. After all, LOGOS and its proxy the Earth Alliance were responsible for killing his friends. The supposedly secret file regarding Meyrin Hawke and Heine Westenfluss' assassination by LOGOS' operative had been leaked to ensure that.

"That's rather quick," the president of the Republic of East Asia commented upon seeing him coming back to them.

"Ah, yes. He was briefing me on ORB's military built-up,"

"You're kidding!" the president of South African Union commented.

"It seems that there's a possibility the country wouldn't cooperate with us regarding our attempt to extradite the LOGOS members in its custody," the ZAFT chairman said, faking a slight frown.

"That's not surprising, since it is well known that it had benefitted tremendously from its trading with LOGOS ever since the war broke out," the Oceania Union's president, a long time friend and supporter of ZAFT said.

"I honestly would like to believe that ORB, despite the death of Nuzumi Attha, is staying true to its ideals," Gilbert said as if he was trying to defend ORB.

"I know Nuzumi personally and he's a good man who strongly believes in peace and justice. It saddens me that his daughter is turning away from his principles," the African Community leader sighed

"That's what we hoped for, you know that there's nothing really constant in the world of politics," the Equatorial Union's president, said, breaking her silence.

"I hate to say it, but what you have just said is true," Gilbert said. "Who would have thought that we will get together like this despite being enemies just a few months ago. It is a pity that the Kingdom of Scandinavia refused to help persuade ORB to hand over the terrorist,"

"I agree," the president of the Republic of East Asia concurred. "It would have made matters easier,"

The South African Union looked at his watch. "Come, let us go. The summit is about to begin,"

Walking toward the summit room together with the country leaders,Gilbert finally allow a small smile on his lips. The summit would show to ORB that many of the countries on Earth were against it. Should the miniscule country remained defiant and refused to hand over the Seirans and their cronies, no country would help it when ZAFT had to 'resort to drastic measure in order to ensure its existence' or in other words, level it to the ground.

Of course, there's a small probability that North Atlantic Federation would step in to help ORB should ZAFT attack, but with the infighting in that country, the chance was very small indeed. Gilbert almost sympathized with Copeland as the man was trying so hard to ensure his country's unity despite being Djibril's puppet all the while.

The Eurasians, which had formed a coalition with rebel North Atlantic Federation faction, also had its hands tied up with the latter's fight. Terminal? The famous Clyne had been taken out and even if the Ultimate Coordinator Kira Yamato and his so-called DRAGOON Freedom survived and helped the country, there was no way ORB will survive against ZAFT's force. Against a technologically inferior North Atlantic military of the same size, perhaps, but not against ZAFT whose technology matches ORB's own. ZAFT will surely win by attrition.

Long before a single shot being fired, ZAFT have won the battle against ORB. Gilbert wasn't the only who celebrate victory prematurely, though. There's still few uncertainties that remained unaccounted for: the delta-winged battleship and its stolen mobile suit. There has been anecdotal sighting of Fallen, or what something similar to it in various North Atlantic battles, but it seemed that Cherubim have vanished. The ZAFT Chairman could still remember the ship's betrayal in the operation to capture Archangel; he would be damned if he would let it interfere with his plans again.

* * *

Athrun didn't miss the look that was on Kira's face. "You go ahead, Lunamaria," he said to the girl. The girl nodded and increased her pace while he and Kira slowed theirs. 

After a few bouts of stifling silence passed by between the two of them, Kira finally spoke. "She seems like a wonderful girl," he mused.

"She is," Athrun answered, knowing very well where the conversation will lead to. Nevertheless, both he and Kira needed to settle the matter between them eventually; that time was as good as any.

"How about Cagalli?"

"She's a wonderful person as well"

"Then why?" Kira asked quietly, his voice betraying a bit of anger. "Is it because of her engagement with Jona? You know very well that I would have done something to stop the wedding!"

"Yes, I have no doubt about that, Kira. However, you and I know very well that there's no stopping your sister when she made up her mind,"

Kira wanted to say something to refute that but couldn't. His sister was a very strong-willed person, even to the point of being stubborn. "So that's the reason? You think that she left you because she wanted to?" he continued, implying that Cagalli had a very responsibility toward ORB.

"I understood her situation very well, Kira. My late father was ZAFT's chairman, if you remember,"

Kira gulped as he could see that he accidentally reminded Athrun of his father. His friend was haunted by his father's legacy, forever haunted by what the man almost did to Earth. "I…"

"It's okay," Athrun said, dismissing the apology, "Actually, that wasn't even the reason,"

"What then?"

Athrun closed his eyes for few seconds, hating what he had to say. "Cagalli and I, we take it for granted,"

"Take what for granted?"

"Our love for each other. We treated love as if it's a very hardy thing, like a cactus in a middle of a large desert,"

"Isn't love is like that?" Kira asked, a bit curious by that statement.

Athrun shook his head slowly while giving off a melancholic smile. "No. It's like an orchid nestled in the middle of a jungle, Kira. It is beautiful, yes, but it's also very fragile,"

"You and Cagalli were together since for a long time!"

"And that's exactly why we take it for granted. We thought that nothing will come between us, and our love will withstand the test of time. That's where we're wrong. Kira, it really pained me when I made the decision. Even now, I do love her and don't mind to sacrifice my life for her… but Kira, whatever that was between the two of us isn't there anymore," he said turning his head away from his friend a bit. "…and I care for her too much to keep leading her… I know that she'll be hurt when I tell her about it, but I don't want to keep her waiting, Kira. It's cruel,"

"I see," Kira said neutrally. "Why Lunamaria then?"

"I learned the lesson through her. We only started as colleagues before things started to develop," He chuckled. "It's not that rosy, though as we argue every now and then,"

"I can see that you're happy," Kira admitted reluctantly.

"The relationship Luna and I have, we built and nurture it. It is far from perfect, but that doesn't matter. I don't want to repeat the same mistake I did with Cagalli," he hesitated a bit, "and Lacus," Athrun stopped and put a hand on Kira's shoulder. "If you love Lacus and she loves you, then work for it, Kira,"

"I…,"

"It's okay, think about it later. We've arrived at the meeting room," Athrun said while pointing to the closed door three meters away.

"Yeah,"

"But I wonder why Lacus didn't tell us about what we will be discussing," his words died when the door opened to reveal an unexpected sight. "How dare you come here!" he growled at someone wearing Earth Alliance uniform.

Jacques Van Rosseau gave the young man a lazy gaze. He didn't get to his current position by being a coward and caring for what people think. After all, even the normally unflappable Barzhakov and Robinson were quite wary of him, so there's nothing that a son of a dead ZAFT leader could do to rattle him. It was a surprise to see the boy there though. He turned to look at a seated blonde ZAFT pilot whose hand seemed to twitch in the direction of his pistol holder. The woman pilot next to him had been scowling since she entered the room. "Perhaps I came at a wrong time?" he asked Lacus sedately, despite knowing very well what had happened very recently.

"I have to admit that we have been through a difficult time," Lacus said tiredly.

"I understand," Jacques said as he turned his attention back to Zala's offspring. He wondered what he could do to rile up the already angry man. It would be interesting to see the reaction. In the end, he shrugged. Business before pleasure. "Commander Zala, I am very aware what had happened recently,"

"Why are you here then?" Dearka asked back while Athrun and Kira took their seat.

Jacques noted that Athrun chose a seat the furthest from him. "I am brave," he stated simply.

"What he meant is reason why you are here despite the LOGOS attack," Kira asked, clearly being objective.

"_Ah well, business before pleasure doesn't mean I can't enjoy my work. Let's start with the appetizer as usual, starting with screwing Yamato's head. I can do Zala's later for dessert" _the Eurasian thought sadistically to himself. "I am here despite the attack because Fallen's pilot gave me her assurance," he said, relishing the change in both Kira and Lacus' expression.

"Fallen's pilot?" Dearka asked.

"Surely you have heard about that mobile suit, right?"

"Yes, but what does she have anything to do with Terminal, or even Archangel?" Lunamaria asked.

"Miss…"

"Hawke, Lunamaria Hawke"

"Miss Hawke, Fllay Allster and many people here, they go a long way back," Jacques remarked. _"This is very interesting; even Zala and blondie seemed to know her, judging from their shocked reaction. Miss Hawke didn't seem to know her, however. No matter, I'll soon put an expression on her face similar to everyone else,"_ Jacques gave an innocent toothy smile while his hand patted the disc in his uniform's pocket. _"Looks like I get to screw everyone's head by the end of this meeting,"_ "So, shall we refocus on our agenda, which is a proposal for an alliance between Terminal and Eurasian-Atlantic Confederation?" His smile became wider.

"Afterwards maybe we can talk about Commander Zala and his ZAFT escorts' defection?"

* * *

1

* * *

**Author's note (2 July 2007)**

1. Well, the aftermath of the whole battle is here. Admittedly the atmosphere is slightly dark, but it's due to the fact the battle preceeding this chapter.

2. Besides what plagued Terminal as a whole, Fllay was undergoing a crisis of her own as what Kira did was half-baked and he left her feeling more conflicted. Not only she felt guilty for using him in the first war, she began questioning the authenticity of her love for him. I believed that Kira would have faced the same problem since he's the 'unnatural' human being (as said by Creuset) but this wasn't explored in the series due to the fact that Kira was kept busy by other problems.

3. As you can see, Gilbert's strategy in sending Athrun has so many different layers and sets of objectives. He had predicted somewhat correctly that when he sent Athrun, he would be able to weaken Terminal, which he did. But of course, even he is prone to making mistakes

4. Lacus, Gilbert and Jacques are what I consider as strategists. They belong in the strategy room, not the warfare. Murrue, Talia, Barzhakov, Kira (to a lesser degree), Mwu (also to a lesser degree) are tacticians, so they would be involved in battles, but not unlike fighters who do the skirmishes (Kira, Mwu, and everyone else). So, that's why Eurasian sent Jacques instead of Barzhakov to negotiate with Lacus. If Gilbert was honest, he could have asked Terminal to sent someone of similar stature to Athrun, i.e. Kira instead of letting Lacus herself come. Of course, that was if he was honest, which he wasn't.


	51. Operation 'Preserving Peace'

Meer brushed her hair slowly in front of the dresser, all the while trying to ignore her bloodshot eyes. Despite being tired, she had trouble sleeping in the posh hotel suite where she was staying. Athrun's death has really shocked her. But something good did come out of it. For the very first time in few months, she did something that was so unlike her stage persona. She had mourned for his death as Meer, not as Lacus.

When the ZAFT's chairman approached her to become Lacus's shadow, sheer happiness couldn't even begin to describe how she had felt. Even from Lacus' very first show, Meer had already become captivated by how graceful the heiress was. She managed to get the songstress' autograph which followed her wherever she went, like a good luck charm. She devoured any information that she could get regarding Lacus, that when she resumed Lacus' persona, no one could tell the difference. And assume Lacus' persona she did.

It was after the failed nuclear attack on PLANTs when she made her first appearance as her idol. At that time, she was asked to deliver a prepared speech to allay people's fear. But she didn't. All that she had to do was to imagine Lacus standing beside her, and as the imagined Lacus made her speech, Meer simply repeated what was being said. The result of that speech was even beyond Gilbert's expectation. Everyone on PLANTs was mesmerized by her words. Her, no, Lacus' speech had swung support toward working for peace instead of taking revenge.

But as each day passed by, the Lacus that was standing next to her began to slowly disappear as Meer began to get into her role. It had come to the stage that she was not Meer; but Lacus, the face that had come to be associated with peace. She didn't have any problem with that responsibility as even before she became Lacus' shadow, she wanted to spread joy and happiness through her voice and being to do just that as Lacus was a great honor.

However, Meer had become Lacus for so long that she had trouble trying to remember who she was. She couldn't even distinguish whether it was hers or 'Lacus'' opinion when trying to decide on something. Two months prior, she was asked to deliver a speech to motivate the ZAFT's soldiers to fight harder. When she wanted to decline on the ground that she couldn't do it because it was against her principle, Gilbert had gently reminded her that Lacus would do anything for the sake of peace, even if it involve giving motivation to soldiers to fight. In the end, Meer Campbell's opinion didn't matter, only 'Lacus Clyne's'

To make matters worse, she had fallen for Athrun Zala, her idol's fiancé. She tried to be cordial or even friendly with him when they first met but then couldn't get him out of her mind. Even though she had tried everything to get him to notice the real her, her efforts failed. In desperation, she even entered his room while he was sleeping, willing to use Lacus' name in order to get close to him. She failed, as Athrun never saw her as anything beyond a cheap fake Lacus. No matter how much it pained her, she had accepted the fact and had promised herself to apologize to him.

Unfortunately, her hope was dashed when Gilbert personally told her that Athrun died while fighting his former friends. Meer wondered how such thing could... She blinked her eyes tiredly. What was is that she was thinking about? Perhaps the fatigue that she has been fighting those few days has finally won over her. Meer fell toward the dresser, not even noticing the dart that was embedded at the side of her body.

A pair of eye peered at her slumped body through the door, which was slightly ajar. The owner, finally satisfied that she was out cold, opened the door, revealing Wilhelm, clad in the hotel's uniform. With a honed calmness, he entered the room while pushing a housekeeping trolley. "Can't believe that this is going smoothly," he said to his accomplice who closed the door behind them.

"Yeah, except for the part that we have to shoot that Takeda asshole, I'm surprised as well," the man said, referring to Meer's manager as he took out the laundry from the trolley. "The others have completed their objective as well,"

"I wonder why we're ordered to get her," Wilhelm mused out loud.

* * *

"How do you feel, Abby?" Talia asked while standing behind the said person's seat. 

"I think I am doing okay so far, Captain Gladys," Abby answered.

"Please, don't be too formal. Just call me Talia. As for the system, I think you will get the hang of it,"

"Yeah," Arthur said while chuckling from his place. "Meyrin took a few days just to distinguish the buttons," The comment caused the whole place became so quiet that the whisper of air-conditionings fan could be heard clearly. "Huh? Was it something I say?"

"Arthur, find out the document 517-C3-3 Clearance 2 from the ship's restricted library. I need to find out about its content," Talia commanded in her no-nonsense voice.

"Yes, Ma'am," Arthur said as he got up and left for the room since the information there could only be accessed locally and access was only granted to ship captains and their second-in-commands.

After the door closed after Arthur, Talia rubbed her temples. Document 517-C3-3 Clearance 2 didn't exist. So, it would be quite some time before he reappear and shoot off his mouth again. Despite that, his comment highlighted the fact that Meyrin's death was being missed by the whole crew. Even her replacement seemed to sense it; once commenting that Meyrin was fortunate to know so many good people.

But regardless of the crew's sentiment about Meyrin, they have a duty to do, which is to set sail for ORB 'in a show of strength' to pressure ORB to hand over the LOGOS terrorists it was harboring. While she personally hoped that the country would relent to the international will, judging from ORB's history it didn't look like that would happen. After all, the country was known for fighting to defend its ideals despite facing overwhelming odds. With Attha fully in control, it wouldn't bow to the pressure. Instead, the country had proposed to deport them to a neutral country for trial, namely Scandinavian Kingdom. The proposal was flatly rejected by Gilbert who pointed out that ORB and the country shared a very close relationship. It was evident that Minerva wasn't sent for a 'show of strength'.

Despite what everyone else seemed to think, judging from their mood, Talia knew very well that Minerva was sent to ORB to wage war with it.

It was times like that the Minerva captain was glad that she was a regular soldier that follows order instead of issuing them. Of course, being a FAITH member, she can act independently in certain circumstances but she still had to act within certain boundaries set by ZAFT. Despite her stick-in-the-mud reputation, she couldn't find it in herself to make decisions that would send thousands of people marching toward their deaths. The position as a captain of a ship afforded her with the opportunity to lead without the burden of responsibility carried by the higher-ranked military commanders. As long as she followed order, no one could blame her.

Taking her place at the captain's seat, Talia tilted her cap down to hide her eyes from the crew. Truth be told, she didn't want to ORB. Despite having clashed with the country's fleet few times, with one ending with the sinking of ORB's biggest sea carrier, she still hold the country in high regard. During the first war, when she was serving as the second-in-command, she couldn't believe her eyes when she saw the live transmission of the Earth Alliance's attack on ORB. It was obvious that the country would lose, but it still fought valiantly. Her captain, who was with her at time saluted as a sign of respect at the sight of its mass driver self-destructing and commanded everyone to do the same, saying that the country's leadership, as well as its people were willing to face grievous consequences in order to uphold their principles.

Fighting such people would be very frightening at the very least.

* * *

"All right, people" Nash Jackson said to the group in front of him as he pointed at the schematic. "Since ORB's Morgenroete Corps had basically copied the MPG-5Z for use with Murasames, I'm here to teach you on how to use it," he said as he sat on the desk. "Now, the beam machinegun has a higher…" 

"Wait," someone said while raising his hand.

"Yeah?"

"Why must we learn it? Isn't it similar to other weapons that we have used before?"

"What makes you think it's the same?"

"It's just a beam rifle, right?"

Jackson rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Hmm… maybe you're right. So skip the lesson and go straight to the training field,"

Half an hour later, after he obliterated the student in the simulated battle, he turned toward the group. "My reaction time is around 130 milliseconds. I accessed your file and saw that your psychomotor showed reaction speed of 99 milliseconds," he said, not needing to mention the fact that only Coordinators and Extendeds had reaction time of less than 100 milliseconds. "Do you know why you lost?"

"No," the other man said.

"Practice," a feminine voice answered from behind them. "That, and the fact that he really knows about the weapon. He was able to factor in factors that would affect the performance of the weapon; factors that aren't detected by Murasame's sensors. MPG-5Z offers a higher rate of fire as well as clip-based battery but at the cost of a higher firing recoil and accuracy,"

"Thank you, Miss President, couldn't say better myself," Jackson remarked. "Nice to see you here,"

Cagalli walked to the group who promptly got up to salute at her. "At ease," She then regarded Jackson with a cold look. "I'm the Representative of ORB, not its president,"

"Different term for different government," the man said with a shrug. "You can designate yourself as 'Bozo' for all I care," he said while putting his hands into his pockets.

"Bozo?" she asked

"Just a term our ship use to denote someone who's working his ass off for people,"

Cagalli nodded, "That sounds like someone's noble,"

'_Geez, I can't tell whether she's being serious or pulling my leg regarding Bozo the Clown. Of course, the show predated Cosmic Era but still…' "_So, why are you here? Does it have something to do with the 'secret' ultimatum ZAFT had given ORB? Or maybe you would like to inform us about the whole country is being surrounded by ZAFT's armada right now?"

"I really should lock you up for spying. Actually, I was just here to watch the training, but since you just spill the secret, I don't see why not. After all, everyone knows about this and more information would be given about this later," Cagalli said dryly before addressing the whole group. "I know that you're wondering about what your instructor said just now so I'll tell you. ORB had just received a request from ZAFT to handover Jonan and all of the ORB's former parliament members," Immediately, there were murmurs among them that she had to raise her hand to silence them. "Now, I'll be honest and tell you that I really don't care for people like them. However, this is a matter of ORB's independence and sovereign. We have no problem if they're to be tried by independent international tribunal but the tribunal that ZAFT will preside is anything but independent. Handing them over will show that we have a weak will. Apart from that, those greedy bastards," she said disdainfully referring to Jona and detained parliament members, "knows a lot about ORB, details that can jeopardize our defense,"

"So what will you do?" someone asked.

Smiling faintly, she said, "The real question is what WE should do. Like I reminded Mr. Nash here, I'm your representative. If everyone thinks that it is in our best to hand them in, I would do it,"

"I think we should show them that ORB is strong-willed and would do anything to preserve its independence,"

"Yeah!" someone else piped in before everyone chorused their agreement.

His arms crossed, Jackson made a loud sighing sound. "It's something to be expected from a country full of naïve hardheadeds…," he grinned, "but that's why I like you people,"

* * *

Gilbert looked at the Attha's image on the television as she continued to reaffirm that her country wasn't committing anything wrong by protecting its citizens against unmerited demand. He raised a glass of champagne toward the screen, as if toasting her words. ZAFT had given the country a week for it to consider handing over the prisoners but it wouldn't relent. Everything was proceeding to his plan, except for the fact that Meer was kidnapped. But that was of no consequence to him. Neither was the fact that the Confederate had captured Azores; in fact that would ensure that they would be even more preoccupied. He pressed the button to the intercom. 

"Make it happen,"

Few hours later, just a few kilometers out of ORB's exclusive zone, preparation was being made to attack the country. Most of the fleet consisted of ZAFT's Vulgoz submarines although its allies did send token ships to show their support for the action that ZAFT would take against the errant country. In the middle of the preparation was a confused pilot who had yet to find any closure of his past actions. Shinn didn't know what to make out of the order that everyone received. To be returning to ORB in the current circumstance caused him to feel torn.

"Do you have any question, Shinn?" Rey's voice brought him out of his reverie.

"Er, no,"

"Then, it would be best for you to pay attention to the briefing," Rey said as he tapped the board.

"Yes," Shinn said as his eyes settled on the shiny badge that was on Rey's breast, the badge that his unofficial mentor wore, not that he would ever admit to everyone that he considered Athrun as his mentor, not even after the man was killed in a fight against his own friend. At that thought, Shinn's face darkened. He hadn't gotten over Athrun and other's death and already he had to go the country that at most could only be associated with bad memories.

"Our mission is to quickly subdue ORB's chain of command, hopefully reducing the collateral damage. Because of that, this operation will be a C2W," C2W, an abbreviation of Command-and-control warfare, utilized an integrated use of various physical and psychological operations to degrade enemy's command and control capabilities. That meant that all utility and communication infrastructures were considered as potential targets, including civilians'.

The Destiny's pilot was too absorbed in his personal musing to realize that the operation was intended to capture the whole of ORB, unlike the Blue Cosmos-led Earth Alliance invasion two years before that targeted the country's mass driver. While nodding absently to Rey's announcement that he would be one of those spearheading the attack, he also didn't realized that 'untraceable leaks' were being prepared to reveal that one Shinn Asuka, a former native of ORB, was among those involved in the operation to liberate it from the oppressive and draconian Attha rule.

"If no one have any problem, the operation 'Preserving Peace' will commence at 9 a.m. tomorrow morning local time zone, should the current dictatress remain steadfast and refuse to surrender the criminals," Rey said, concluding the briefing. "Have a good rest everyone," he said as he left the room.

As everyone began to get up and leave the room, Shinn remained transfixed on his seat, looking at the map of what used to be his home.

* * *

_**ORB Emirates' MS-OS **_

**ORB – 00 Shizuka**

**G **eneralized

**U **tility

**N** ascent

**D** evelopment

**A** tmospheric

**M** aneuver

**Utility Module RC-07 Hachiman Connected**

"Are you sure that you want this module to be equipped?" Erica's voice asked through the cockpit's speaker as Cagalli finished her preparation. "This module doesn't even have a weapon installed on it. I think it's better for you to equip Fujin or Bishamon instead,"

"It's okay, as I need to use Hachiman for what I planned to do" the ORB representative replied. "How many WASP units do we have?"

"With one taken out during the fight that day, two,"

"Equip one with Mikaboshi and link it to Shizuka. I will swap the modules later. As for the other one, put Koyane on it and direct the radar information it will collect to the headquarters. That way we can modify one of our AWACS Murasames for combat use,"

"Understood,"

"Any new update?"

"We have achieved full mobilization and have evacuated 98.2 percent of the population to the shelter,"

"Good. I shudder to think what will happen after this," Cagalli said. As Shizuka's engines came to life and it began to build up sufficient thrust for launch, she decided to ask Erica, "Erica, can I ask you a question?"

"Go ahead,"

"You have stood behind me all this time, even when the Seirans took over the country. Is it because of my father's order?"

Erica pressed a button, causing the cranes that were holding Shizuka in place to move away. The mobile suit sped out of the underground hangar. "No," she said while smiling, "It's because I believe in you,"

* * *

"Initiating reentry sequence, Captain," Elizabeth called out from her pilot seat. 

"Good, skip safety Procedure 45 to 61," Barzhakov said from his seat

"Sir, with all due respect, isn't doing can put the ship in danger?" Enishi asked worriedly.

Barzhakov sighed. "That's why I said that you people from ORB are uptight. Procedure 45 to 61 requires check on the ship's weapon of mass destruction, which apart from Helga's crapst...sorry, breadsticks, aren't present onboard. Even if the ship is destroyed in the reentry, the breadsticks would survive the high reentry temperature. Of course, they're already burnt to begin with," he said before guffawing at his own joke.

"And that's why I said you're too lax in safety, Captain. You forgot about the mushroom soup," Enishi protested back.

"Ah yes, the dreaded mushroom soup. One whiff of that and your stomach will turn to mush and you have to stay in the 'room for all day. I'm considering feeding it to POWs that we will pick up,"

"Then do it alone, Captain," someone else interjected. "I don't want to be put on trial for gross violation of human rights,"

Enishi shook his head. He had adjusted to the life onboard Cherubim very well. Despite the laid-back attitude the whole crew was very serious about their responsibility. Terrence once said that was how everyone managed to stay upbeat throughout the whole ordeal; the attitude was some sort of reality denial. Off course, he wondered how someone could have made such distasteful mushroom soup. Barzhakov had said that Helga was a chemical weapon specialist. Truth be told, until that day Enishi couldn't be sure whether Barzhakov was serious or not with that statement.

"All right, let's get this show on the road," the Cherubim captain said.

"There's no road in the middle of space, Captain," Sammy remarked while rolling her eyes.

"I didn't remember you being a literary teacher Sammy. Our mobile suits are ready to sortie? We'll commence the operation once we have entered the atmosphere,"

"Yes,"

"Reaching the correct reentry vector," Elizabeth interjected. "Reentry in 9... 8... 7... 6... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1..."

The delta-winged ship began to glow as it reentered Earth.

* * *

Terrence flexed his glove. "All right, I'm set," Unlike his normal uniform, he was wearing a black suit with bulletproof vest. He then checked his weapon, making sure that the magazine was correctly clipped on and there was nothing inside the weapon's muzzle, which was slightly larger than normal. 

"Don't peer into the barrel like that. You might press the trigger by mistake and have your face rearranged. And maybe you would like to check the safety lock first before checking everything else next time," someone supplied helpfully.

Embarrassed, Terrence quickly withdrew his head from the barrel. "How can you eat at time like this?" he said to man who had made the comment in an effort to change the topic.

"Hmm... Oh, sorry for being rude. Here, have one," his companion said as he offered the food container.

"Umm... You're missing the point here," Terrence said while pointing toward himself. "We're about to go into a battle and you're stuffing yourself with _refined_ carbohydrates,"

"I don't think dying in from obesity something is really a big concern right now. Try to think of it in this way. If we die in this mission, it'll be our 'last supper', right?"

"I get your point," Terrence said as he grabbed one of the box's content. After taking a bit, he raised his eyebrows. "This is good,"

"Of course. Only the best ingredients were used,"

"How you managed to whip up something tasty is really beyond me. The cafeteria isn't exactly a gourmet's paradise, you know,"

"That's because I prepared them myself,"

"So, here am I eating what could be my last meal before going on a suicide mission,"

"You care for some English Breakfast?" his companion asked while offering a water bottle.

"Sure, why not," Terrence said as he take a swig. "Good stuff,"

"Of course. By the way, Mr. Shauzer, my friend here," the man said while casually motioning to the person by his side, "wouldn't have suggested the operation if it's impossible,"

"But it is suicidal," Terrence maintained.

"True," the man shrugged, "but I guess that's how things are in life. Trust me, we didn't want to involve you in this, but your knowledge is very crucial,"

"Capsule reentry in one minute," a male voice announced over the speaker.

"I wouldn't have joined the design committee if I know this would happen," Terrence looked at the food in his hand. "Oh well, here I am having what could be my last supper before going on a suicidal yet not impossible mission,"

* * *

**MOBILE SUIT NEO OPERATION SYSTEM**

**G** eneration

**U** nsubdued

**N** uclear

**D** rive

**A** ssault

**M **odule

**G.U.N.D.A.M Complex**

**Series SD100-O9 SF 01-34152**

**Z.A.F.T**

Kira was checking Strike Freedom's status when Da Costa's face appeared on the communication. "Strike Freedom would lead the reinforcement,"

"Roger,"

Da Costa looked at him seriously. "Just like Andrew, I will protect her until it is safe enough to get her there," he vowed. The man had escaped the sad fate that had taken Andrew because the Desert Tiger had insisted he stayed at the base to look after Lacus. It seemed that the latter's death had affected Da Costa as the man had matured overnight. Gone was the indecision; only firm resoluteness that Andrew had.

"Thank you, Da Costa,"

The man smiled before signing off.

Remembering something, Kira contacted Athrun. "Are you okay?"

"I am, except that I found it hard to believe that Gilbert have betrayed me. To make things worse, it was revealed by that Eurasian scum," Athrun replied, remembering the shocking information he had found out during the fated meeting. "Also I have yet to say how sorry I am for the trouble I have caused,"

"Stop it. You have been apologizing to us for quite some time,"

"But…"

"Look, you were doing things that you thought were right," Strike Freedom began moving slowly around the Terminal's hangar to the catapult.

"Still…"

"It's okay,"

"Kira…,"

"Yes?"

"Have the two of them met?"

It took a moment for Kira to understand Athrun's question. "No. Even when Fllay delivered the Deuterium inhibitor here unit, they didn't meet," Kira hesitated a bit, "But Lacus knew about her,"

The former FAITH member's face changed for the briefest moment. "I see… I don't want to pry but maybe it's better for you be decisive," Before Kira could say anything in defense, he smiled, "There's something I want to speak to Lunamaria so we can continue this later," He then signed off.

Despite his earlier resolve, Kira felt shook up by Athrun's words. "Fllay," he whispered.

At the same time, his name was being whispered by the said girl who was seated inside her cockpit with her eyes closed. Telling herself that it was just a random thing, she opened her eyes and continued with her own preparation. Unlike other mobile suit cockpits, hers was quite cramped, with just enough space for an average people to sit. There were no screens saved for one integrated to seat's console and even that was for initial boot-up or in case of an emergency. The screen, as well as the controls that were also to the seat, were linked through the whole mobile suit wirelessly because the cockpit's design didn't allow for normal wiring to be used. Flipping the switch open, Fllay saw the small screen came to life.

**Mobile Suit Operating System**

**G** yro-linked

**U** ni-view

**N** avigation

**D** ispersive

**A** gile

**M** aneuver

**Series AVIC-T15 Fallen LA-SE1Z3X**

**O.M.N.I. Enforcer**

**E-A CONFEDERATION**

Red trimmings around the gunmetal black mobile suit began to glow as its dark blue eyes pulsed to life. Her view of the cockpit was taken over by the outside view, as if she was looking the eyes of Fallen, thanks to the display built into her helmet. She looked to her right and the view changed to the right side of her mobile suit, meaning that the system was functioning perfectly. She focused on a spot and a green 'x' mark appeared over it, telling her that the targeting system was online as well. "Systems functional,"

"ZGMF-X16X, Fallen Nova, initiating launch procedures A1 to F4," a male voice announced.

"Checked," she said as Fallen took place at the catapult.

"Standby for launch,"

After a few seconds the take off light changed from red to green and Fallen was propelled through the catapult at high speed. After it has cleared out of the launch area, it engaged its thrusters and began to climb up. After thirty seconds of increasing its attitude, the communication device chirped again.

"Fallen Nova, you have reached a minimum safe attitude to engage Stage 1 Plume de Lune,"

"Understood," _"Somehow, I feel that Kira and I will meet again,"_ Fllay thought to herself, _"and I really want to meet him again," _Fallen's wings began to deploy. "Plume de Lune, firing," Two seconds later, Fallen began to accelerate at a very high speed, leaving reddish trail of light behind it.

Mark, who was watching the mobile suit leave from the same cliff he and Fllay had met, shook his head. He wondered whether it was a good idea to send her to battle so soon after Azores. He had seen telltale signs of fatigue on the redhead. However, she had insisted that she was fine and reminded him that she was not directly under his command. Which was true. So, there was nothing he could do but stood there to witness Fallen leave.

"God speed, Allster,"

* * *

1

* * *

**Author's note (11 July 2007)**

1. My draft AN is actually longer but it's too long, almost like an **author's rant** instead of **author's note**. So, here's the compact version. If you have questions for 2 - 6, I'll be happy to answer it personally.

2. Some of you may be surprised by the different interpretation of Meer in this story. It's due to my analysis of her in GSD.

3. I hope the timing of the whole chapter is not to fast

4. The battle of ORB, two chapters long, will probably be concluded by the end of August due to external factors.

5. I do realize that when Eternal was destroyed, METEOR units were destroyed along with it.

6. I'm aiming to end Fallen Angel by the end of this year, so it looks like my schedule on track right now. So, tentatively, my schedule is:  
**July – August : **_Battle of ORB (2 chapters) _  
**September : **_Aftermath (1 - 2 chapters) _  
**October – November : **_Final battle (3 – 4 chapters) _  
**December : **_Final chapter and epilogue (2 chapters)  
_Basically, I already have a fairly detailed idea of the final chapter and epilogue and now I'm working backward, trying to frame the final battle.


	52. Besieged Peace

"Tell Destiny to standby," Talia told Abby. While the Meyrin's replacement acknowledged her order, she turned her attention toward Malik. "Take off and turn the ship toward ORB's main force,"

"What are we doing, Captain?" Arthur asked.

"Prepare Tannhauser for firing,"

"What's the target?"

Talia bit her lips a bit. "Target the ORB's main military force,"

"WHAT?" Arthur almost shouted

"ORB is our enemy, Trine, and the order to use Tannhauser against them comes from above," Talia said, using Arthur's family name to show how serious she was.

"Yes, Captain," he said while turning to his station.

"Abby, tell the rest of the fleet to synchronize missile volleys with our shot,"

After a few seconds, Abby announced, "Done. They're waiting for our signal,"

"Tannhauser's preparation complete," Arthur said.

With everyone's eyes on her, Talia took a deep breath, telling herself that what she did was for the good of PLANTs

"FIRE!"

Red positron stream began to burst toward its target at great speed while above it, hundreds of missiles were being launched, targeted at the same place as well. It was almost certain that ORB's force would be annihilated by the oncoming onslaught.

That was before an orange colored mobile suit moved into Tannhauser's firing path, transfigured into mobile suit and blocked the positron beam. Then, it moved toward the incoming missiles and erected a giant lightwave shield, stopping quite a number of them so that whatever missiles that got through could be taken down by others easily.

"What was that?" Arthur asked, echoing everyone's surprise perfectly.

"That is what I believe to be Shizuka, ORB's advance prototype," Talia answered.

"It blocked our Tannhauser easily. In fact, better than the Alliance mobile armour we fought that time,"

"Arthur, this is not the time to be impressed by our enemy. How long would it take before we can fire again?"

Before Arthur could answer, the whole ship was rocked by a large explosion.

"What happened?" Talia asked.

"Tannhauser's main barrel has been hit by a shell!" Arthur reported. He read the information from his screen before turning toward Talia and shaking his head. The hit had taken the large positron cannon out of commission for the duration of the battle.

"Then we'll have no chance to use it," she turned toward Abby and said, "Report Tannhauser's damage to the command. Tell Shinn to take down Shizuka,"

"How about Legend and Crusader? They're waiting for clearance to launch," Abby asked.

"Not yet. If possible, we want only Destiny to fight in this battle," Talia answered. During the high-level briefing that she went to with Rey, Gilbert had made it clear that it was important to show to the world that ZAFT intend to liberate ORB, not conquer it. Because of that it was decided to send only Shinn to fight as he was a native of ORB; Rey and Crusader's pilot would only fight should the need arise.

Moments later, Destiny flew toward its objective as numerous ZAFT mobile suits began taking off from their respective ships.

At that time, Shizuka's pilot was communicating with Archangel which had just surfaced from its underwater launch facility. Cagalli listened to Murrue telling her that it would be best for Archangel to engage Minerva. "No," she said as she shook her head.

"No?" Murrue asked, confused by the contradiction. "But someone has to take care of Minerva,"

"Since I think both are evenly matched, your ship and Minerva would probably run around in circles for a long time before any victor can emerge. Frankly speaking, I don't think we have the luxury to do that. Minerva is the least of our concern right now; what we must take care first is the ZAFT's flagship. According from an intercept we got, the flagship is one of the Vulgoz-class submarines,"

"So…"

"Yes. Since ORB doesn't have a strong submarine fleet and our anti-submarine capability have been hampered by previous defeats, it would be up to Archangel to fulfilled that task,"

"Understood," Murrue said while Cagalli signed off. She then said to Mirrillia, "Launch all of our mobile suits,"

One by one Murasames, in their mobile armour mode, began launching from Archangel's catapults. The second last mobile had just cleared the entrance when a single shot from a lucky ZAKU hit it and made it explode. Although the ship wasn't affected much by the explosion, it had caused the catapult system to malfunction, preventing the last Murasame from launching.

Murdoch, being in charge of the technical matters onboard the legged ship scramble to get the catapult online back. Five minutes passed but they were unable to repair it. "Why in the hell isn't the catapult repaired yet?" he screamed amidst lout clanging noises in the hangar.

"We're trying our best boss," one of the younger hands answered. There was a large boom and everything shook. A stray missile had exploded not far from the hangar.

"Even monkeys can do their jobs faster," the head mechanic groused. He then turned toward the suited up man next to him. "Hey, what are you doing here? You're supposed to be in your plane ready for takeoff after we repaired the friggin' catapult,"

As a reply, the pilot silently pointed in a direction. His Murasame, transfigured into its mobile suit mode was walking toward the catapult area, forcing the technicians nearby the place to flee for their live.

Murdoch went to the nearest com set and contacted Mirrillia. "What the hell are you thinking, ordering the Murasame to go to the catapult?"

"What are you talking about?" she asked back as a frown appeared on her face. "Aren't you the one who will tell me when it's okay to tell it to launch? I'm still waiting for the go-ahead. So when are you…"

"Huh?" he mumbled as he terminated the communication, without waiting the other person to finish. Murdoch then dialed the Murasame which was just moving in front of the catapult. "Flight 51-A," he began calmly, "what the fuck do you think you're doing, you bastard?"

"Launching," Neo or rather Mwu's voice crackled back cheerily.

"What the hell… I don't care if you're Neo or Nero, but no one's getting off until we fixed the pad,"

"That's what you say," Mwu said as his Murasame began to sprint toward the exit.

By then Mirrillia had sensed that something was wrong and had joined in the conversation. "Colonel," she said, minding his rank, "what are you doing?" She grimaced as Archangel was rocked by another explosion.

Murrue who overheard some of the conversation turned her attention toward the CIC station.

"Keep the launch bay door open," Mwu said.

"Neo, launching right now is impossible!" Mirrillia insisted.

"Relax and watch. I'll show you how I make the impossible possible," the former Phantom Pain officer drawled as his mobile suit's sprint became faster. "Besides, the green horn that was supposed to pilot this thing doesn't look that skillful to me. I kinda thought that every trained pilot from ORB is at least on par with the kid when he started flying," he continued, referring to Kira when he began piloting Strike in the last war.

Murrue's eyes widened, shocked at Mwu's comment. All possible doubts regarding his not remembering his past vanished when she heard his next comment.

"Since I'm not a mobile armour pilot anymore, can I expect you to go out with me, _Captain?_" he said, switching the connection to Archangel's main bridge.

"Only if you return," Murrue said, barely restraining her emotion.

"A very motivating answer. Well, then, see you later, navigator" The Murasame reached the end of the hangar and jumped out of the ship. It then reconfigured into mobile armour mode and sped off toward the battle raging over ORB's sky.

The Archangel's captain felt her eyes moistened. _"Mwu, you idiot. Please be safe,"_ she whispered

* * *

The place wasn't the epitome of comfort but to the hundred plus civilians sitting inside it, they couldn't care less. They're more worried about their safety, and as the room shook from time to time, they shared concerned glances. Few of the children broke down and cried, confused and scared of the distant but loud rumbling sounds that took place from time to time and their parents were trying their best to comfort them. 

A boy around eight years old looked at his crying friends and then turned toward his father. "Why are we here and what is that loud sounds?"

"We're here because bad people are attacking our home again and if we stay here, we'll be safe," his father replied.

"Why?" the question was simple, but yet profound.

"Because we haven't learned to accept each other," his father replied after thinking.

More and more people began to listen to the conversation.

"Then, do we have to move somewhere again just like the last time?"

The father shared a look with his wife who then put a hand on the boy and smiled. "No, this time we don't have to go away. Our representative will protect us and chase the bad people away,"

Grinning, the boy pumped his fist in the air. "When I grow up, I want to be ORB's representative so that I can protect father, mother and everyone!" he announced confidently.

Every adult in the room watched the kid with wonder before they broke into a cheer. The boy had reminded them that as long as they persevere, dark times would eventually come to pass. Besides, their representative was out there, fighting for them; they couldn't lose.

And fought for them she did as Shizuka, in its mobile armour mode, fired off several high energy beams at Destiny. Cagalli briefly wondered how ZAFT managed to design prototypes that obviously use a lot of power but still comply with the Junius Seven Treaty prohibiting the use of nuclear reactors and N-Jammer cancellers in mobile suits. She didn't know at that point of time only ORB was fielding a totally conventional mobile suit forces and she was fighting a nuclear-powered mobile suit.

A high energy beam blast from Destiny's M2000GX forced her to refocus on the battle. She then saw Destiny activating its Wing of Light to chase her. Resolving not to let herself lose at the hand of the ZAFT invaders, Cagalli inadvertently entered into SEED state as she began going through several loops to throw Destiny off its back.

The sudden change in his adversary's skill level caught Shinn off guard as his attack should have found its mark. He did try to chase Shizuka but Destiny's less-than-aerodynamic design slowed it enough that Shizuka managed shake him off by entering into a group of clouds. Shinn didn't see that as a major setback because Destiny's radar was keeping track of it.

That situation changed when the radar suddenly registered multiple targets, all at different coordinates.

At first, Shinn was alarmed, but when the radar showing a Destroy unit 2 kilometers behind his mobile suit, he finally understood what had happening. The ORB mobile armour was using some sort of device to mess up Destiny's radar.

He saw a flash from the cloud and moved Destiny out of the way as two beam shots passed by. When Shizuka appeared, Shinn aimed Destiny's M2000GX at it but the targeting computer couldn't get a lock. Infra red sensors seemed to be working perfectly, but with the low heat signature being emitted by the battery power prototype as well as the high heat generation by his own mobile suit, targeting using them would be quite difficult unless he switch off the Wings of Light. Doing that would almost cripple his mobile suit.

Shinn quickly reprogrammed the computer to switch to manual targeting. Fighting the ORB's prototype would be more difficult than he thought.

* * *

Like giant leviathans rising from the sea, four ZAFT Ash units began moving toward the shore, their objective was to destroy the geothermal station just a mere two kilometers inland. With their clawed feet allowing them greater mobility on the beach and no hostile mobile suits in sight, there was nothing that could have stopped them from achieving the goal. With the geothermal station out of the way, there would be no backup power supply for ORB once ZAFT capture the main nuclear reactors; that would deal a severe blow to the nation's defense. ZAFT would have sent airstrikes to destroy it but the reconnaissance data collected showed the place was heavily defended by anti-air batteries. With all Phase Shift armoured mobile suits being assigned to assist with the main attack, a surprise land attack was needed to destroy the power station. 

The four mobile suits continued moving, not wanting to waste any time. Then, the leader stopped as a Murasame came into view, smoke trailing from one of its engines. Realizing that it didn't pose any threat to them, the quartet resumed their journey as the Murasame crashed into the sea behind them.

Unknown to them, there were people watching their movements, waiting patiently and quietly. After the Ashes have just covered 500 meters, one of the pilots saw some movements on the ground in front of them. The movements turned out to be tunnel doors being opened as ORB's SAPPER infantry, armed with their anti armour rockets, appeared, took aim and fired. Once launched from their tubes the rockets moved toward the four Ashes, their onboard targeting systems making minute adjustments to their respective flight paths.

With no CIWS to destroy the rockets or the jump packs to escape to the sky, the ZAFT mobile suits tried to evade the missiles by changing their path. Their efforts were similar to beached squids trying to escape from preying gulls; it was futile. The rockets hit their knee joints, one of the least armored parts of the mobile suits, and exploded. When the explosions subsided, the Ashes had collapsed to the ground, immobile and helpless.

The defenders had no time to celebrate as more Ashes emerged from the sea, eager to take revenge for their fallen compatriots. Without the element of surprise on their side anymore, the ORB soldiers had to take cover as missiles from the Ashes' GMF22SX missile launches began raining their position.

A few minutes later, a communiqué burst caused Kisaka and everyone at the ORB's headquarters' moral to drop slightly. ZAFT had managed to destroy the secondary power station. Knowing that they had no time to dwell on what had happened, he quickly ordered more reinforcement to be brought to the main power generation site.

Nash Jackson, who was part of the reinforcement that was ordered there wasn't happy with the order. "We're supposed to be the heroes, not the end-level boss, right, Mr. Snookum?" he said to a small lion plushie on his seat. "This is boring," Because of his skill, Nash was trained to specialize in anti mobile suit dog fighting. Thus, he didn't feel comfortable being relegated to protect 'important assets'; he prefer blasting them to pieces.

"Commander," his wingman said, "I must remind you that this place is very important to ORB. If it's knocked down…"

"Yes, yes, I understand," he said. "We get to sleep without any air conditioner tonight and with your tropical weather, I'll be roasted by morning,"

"They're coming," someone else interrupted as multiple hostile began appearing over the horizon, preceded by multiple missiles aimed at the power generating station.

"Great. Now I feel like we're in Missile Command game," Nash said as his Murasame raised its beam cannon. "One with lowest scores buys lunch for everyone else!" he hollered to his people. "…if everyone don't buy the farm, that is," he said to himself.

* * *

It was first detected by a radar detector onboard a Vulgoz-class submarine who first thought that it was a giant missile. When the computer had identified, the commander onboard ZAFT's flagship St. Helens was immediately notified. Instantly, a flight was directed to take it down. They were quickly destroyed. 

One of ZAFT's biggest threats, Fallen, the mobile suit borne out of its own research, had arrived on the side of ORB.

Two ZAFT mobile suits approached it from behind, wanting to take advantage of the fact that the mobile suit would have to slow down to turn toward them; even if it tried to execute a spin, they would be able to keep it busy. Thus, it was to their shock when Fallen, not even changing its vector or turning, reached for its MPG 252 beam machinegun stored on its back, and fired at them. An observer would later remark that Fallen had eyes on its back. The statement was quite close to the truth as Fllay didn't need to turn her mobile suit toward her target in order to attack and instead rely on the view provided by the back cameras that was shown on the helmet mounted display. That approach to providing 360 degrees view was more elegant than the one used on Destroy which had to use multiple displays to form a panoramic display.

With no normal ZAFT mobile suit daring to pursue it any more, Fallen approached the site where Destiny was still fighting Shizuka. The ZAFT prototype, clearly having an edge against the battery operated Shizuka was about to slash the mobile suit into two with its Arondight sword when it was blocked by Fallen's twin Saittenwaffe short beam swords.

"What, no cool sounding greeting?" Cagalli remarked, switching to an unencrypted channel so that she could communicate with Fallen.

"I'm not here to impress you. I understand why you're here instead of being at the base Cagalli, but remember that it can backfire,"

"Yeah, I know," One of the reasons why Cagalli insisted fighting alongside the rest of the ORB armed force was to motivate it. However, she acknowledged the fact that should she be killed in the fight, it would have a devastating impact on its moral. "Somehow I believe that someone will bail me out in the end. And you did, which is just as well since Shizuka's power is running low,"

"I'm floored by that vote of confidence. However, you should head to the base to coordinate the incoming reinforcements,"

"Reinforcements?"

"He's coming," Fllay said simply while Fallen brought up its shield to block Destiny's CIWS.

Cagalli knew exactly what she meant. "It's a bit embarrassing to say this, but please take care of this for me," she said as her mobile suit changed mode and left the place.

"So I was fighting against Attha herself, huh?" a male voice invaded Fallen's communication channel.

"That you did," Fllay said as she prepared herself. Despite Destiny stopping from attacking, she didn't want to take the chance in case the pilot was trying to trick her.

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why did she fight?"

"I don't know the real reason. One thing's for sure, you're attacking her country,"

"I am trying to prevent the country from being destroyed," Shinn insisted. "I once lived in this country before it got wasted in the previous war and although now I'm with ZAFT, I don't want that to happen,"

"How do you intend to do that?"

Shinn was surprised by the question. He had expected some kind of retort to his statement. "If I can demoralize them enough, then we don't have to fight,"

"I see,"

"That's all what you wanted to say?" Shinn asked incredulously. "Aren't you supposed to chide me, calling me a hypocrite for attacking my own country or say that my way of thinking is wrong?"

"I can't do that, ZAFT's pilot. You being here is proof enough that you believe what you're doing are right. However, I'm also here because I believe in my own reasons," Fallen engaged its Plume de Lune and charged at Destiny.

"_She's fast,"_ Shinn thought to himself as he engaged Destiny's Wings of Light to propel it toward his opponent. The Mirage Colloid being spread by the system created multiple illusions of the mobile suit, confusing both Fallen's visual and radar, forcing it to resort to using its swords to defend. The two clashed swords once again, with Fallen having to use both Saittenwaffe to hold Destiny's Arondight. Shinn had considered using Destiny's Palma Fiocina but doing so required him to relinquish Destiny's pressure on Fallen. Despite it being a bit stronger than Fallen, he had no illusion that if he eased the pressure, Fallen would take the opportunity to break the blockade and kill him. "So, there's no convincing you to hold back?" he asked.

"No,"

"Very well," he said. His pupils began to expand he inadvertently triggered his SEED. Once more his mind becoming clearer as his senses perceptivity increased. Even as he entered such state, he could feel that something was different with him. Unlike the previous situation where his thoughts were filled with intense desire to kill his enemies, his current thoughts had none of those; only sound strategies to defeat the opponent in front of him.

Destiny pushed its sword to the side, suprising Fallen and caused it to veer past Destiny. Quickly it switch Arondight to the left hand, deployed its mega cannon and fired it at the gunmetal black mobile suit, knowing that it would evade, most probably to his left. His prediction came true and Fallen came into the position where he can stab it with Arondight easily.

However, the subsequent even that he predicted didn't happen. Fallen had simply moved out of Destiny's stabbing range. It was then Shinn had noticed that Fallen had deployed its wings, which somehow reminded him of Freedom's HiMAT. Unlike Freedom's which seemed a bit restricted in movement however, the wings on Fallen seemed to be movable.

All that didn't matter as Shinn beginning to plot for Fallen's downfall. Destiny's Wings of Light came to live again and he chased after Fallen, subconsciously going through numerous iterations of what Fallen would do. To his confusion, although its pilot kept doing the same thing that he predicted, he still couldn't land a hit on it. It was then he noticed what was wrong.

To test his observation, he threw Destiny's two beam boomerangs at Fallen, calculating their angles and speed so that Fallen would have to defend against them instead of moving to the spot where he could shoot her easily. Shinn got his unwanted answer when Fallen swerve to evade the first one.

Although it was poorly armed, Fallen was at least as fast as Destiny. Perhaps it has something to do with the mobile suit's wings moving.

Knowing that he could be at a considerable disadvantage the longer the fight dragged on, Shinn resume his attack just as Fallen was about to evade the the final beam boomerang, wanting to close the distance as much as possible. He could clearly see how Fallen's pilot had notice him coming and began to take countermeasures. Throttling the Wings of Light to the maximum, Shinn prayed that his gambit would be successful. There was a large flash as the two clashed.

"You almost got me there," Fllay said as Fallen's Saittenwaffe had barely from slashing up its chest. "Sadly, you haven't understood why I can evade your attacks, do you?"

Shinn was puzzled when Fallen's wings folded to the front. It was then he found the real answer just a fraction before the main screen became black. Instinctively, he guided Destiny to move away from Fallen, hoping that the damage to the main camera wasn't permanent. Even if it recovers however, Shinn wasn't sure that he could beat Fallen, not alone.

He had thought that the movement by Fallen's wings, which was similar to flapping, was solely intended to intimidate Fallen's opponents. The truth was that the wings weren't flapping; instead, they changed position to redirect the main thrusters' direction to maximize acceleration and deceleration. That as much explained why Fallen was able to fly backwards as fast as flying forward.

Before he could dwell on how to defeat it, the threat alarm went off, telling him that his opponent had attacked. Only knowing that the attack came from the back, he tried to escape, all the while jinking to the left and right. The screens had finally began to show the outside view and he could see beams shots left and right of him as Fallen kept firing its beam machinegun. He didn't dare stopping or change direction though, as it would require him slowing down, something that could be fatal.

Suddenly, the firing stopped. "Are you all right, Shinn?" Rey asked.

"Yeah, I guess,"

"We're here, so we can work together to defeat it,"

When Destiny turned toward Fallen, Shinn could see that Fallen was facing Crusader and Legend. There was a slight damage on its right shoulder

"It has some sort of laminated or reflective armour," Rey commented. "The beam shot is supposed to destroy that part,"

"But that means it probably doesn't have any Phase Shift armour," Shinn observed.

"Projectiles can hurt it," Crusader's pilot, whom Shinn have yet to know her name, commented. "That means it could be defeated easily,"

"Don't be an idiot," Shinn snapped. "It's like a cockroach. Sure it looks weak and puny but don't underestimate it,"

"Then what do you think we should do?" Rey asked.

"It is fast. Very fast. Doesn't have the firepower though. As long we attack it together, watch each other's back and don't be a goddamned hero, we'll eventually corner it," he said, wryly noting that it was almost the same thing what Athrun had told him when they fought Freedom. It showed him how much he had changed.

"Very well. We'll follow your strategy,"

For the first time since she arrived at the battlefield, Fllay found herself being forced to go on the defensive. With Plume de Lune already operating at Level 2, she couldn't increase Fallen's speed anymore without risking melting away its PS-less armour; not that it really mattered. The expansion caused by the heating would affect its joints as well, leading to loss of operative capability. As long as they operate in the atmosphere, no mobile suit would able to surpass mobile armours and their weaker fighter jets brethren when it comes to speed alone.

Despite that, Fallen was still faster than other mobile suits and by that virtue alone did Fllay managed to prevent Fallen from being turned into a very expensive scrap metal. An alarm went off, surprising the flame-haired pilot. While she was fighting the trio to gain an opening by taking Crusader out of commission, they had quietly arranged for missiles to be fired at her, taking advantage of its vulnerability to conventional weaponry. Letting out a silent curse, she stopped from pursuing her prey and tried to put as much distance as she could from the missiles.

That was difficult because the projectiles' robotic brains were programmed to be persistent and chase after her, making it clear to her that they were more threatening than the trios and their beam weapons. She took care of any missile that got close enough with Fallen's CIWS but more and more missiles blotted her display screen. ZAFT had spared no effort in taking her down; if they weren't concerned with possible crossfire they would have sent more mobile suits as well.

She destroyed three more missiles and would have destroyed more if not for a single beam shot that she had to block. It served its purpose well as Fllay was distracted long enough for the missiles to close in to her mobile suit.

When the first missile began exploding against Fallen, Shinn watched it with grudging respect. The traitorous mobile suit had proven hard to handle. It even stopped him from killing Representative Attha and brings ORB's resistance to an early end. To his chagrin, Fallen emerged from the explosions intact, although it was in a pretty bad condition. Fallen descended uncontrollably to land below.

"I'm going after her," Crusader's pilot announced as she engaged her mobile suit's boosters to attack. Strangely enough, the normally calm and collected Rey followed suit, probably wanting to make sure that Fallen would be destroyed.

Shinn would have let them be but then he saw some metal chunks coming off Fallen. It turned out the mobile suit's auxiliary armour had protected it to some degree. "Be careful, it may be a trap!"

Rey acknowledged his warning but Legend and Crusader still gave chase.

Meanwhile, Fllay struggled to gain control of her mobile suit's flight system which had been damaged by explosions. It was futile as she wasn't a Coordinator and reprogramming mobile suit's computer wasn't her forte. Besides, the computer indicated that the failure was caused by a hardware and not software. Before she could plan on her next move, she caught sight of the two ZAFT mobile suits approaching, Legend from the right and Crusader from the left.

A compartment door underneath each one of Fallen's wrists popped out, revealing three knife-like objects inside them. Fallen's hands then reached for the compartment on the other side, grabbed them and threw them at Legend and Crusader.

At first, they flew toward the two mobile suits unassisted. Then, the rocket motors inside them came to live and their tips began to glow.

"Block them!" Rey warned out to his colleague as he finally realized that they were almost similar to the pikes mounted on his DRAGOON unit were designed to penetrate most armours and shields.

Both Legend and Crusader brought up their shields just in time. One of the rockets pierced and damaged Legend's left MX2200 shield generator while the other two passed by harmlessly. Unfortunately for Crusader, all three rockets found their marks, incapacitating its right arm and damaging its knee.

"BITCH!" Crusader's pilot cursed as she wanted to pursue Fallen again only to be stopped by an explosion that rocked its chest. When the explosion abated, she saw a white blur passed by.

At the same moment, Fallen kept descending toward ORB's land at terminal velocity. Fllay had already exhausted all available methods get her mobile suit to fly again and knew that even though Fallen's gyroscopic cockpit will absorb some of the damage, the crash would probably kill her. Just as Fallen was about hit the ground, she felt it began to slow down. She turned her head and her view changed to show a white and blue mobile suit supporting hers. A small delta shaped object was also visible in the distance.

A small smile appeared on her lips. "You're finally here, Kira," she whispered as she closed her eyes tiredly.

* * *

1

* * *

**Author's note (10 August 2007)**

1. Some may wonder why Fallen could only be kept in check by three Gundams whereas Strike Freedom was stopped by two in GSD. While I would be happy to answer questions on this, please consider these propositions first.

a) Kira in GSD is trying hard NOT to kill Shinn and Rey. Doing that would take a lot of skill. It's like trying to defeat a machine-gun wielding enemy with a pillow. Of course, Kira in this story isn't that much reluctant to get rid of them in order to protect the peace, but he isn't as powerful either. Think of him as an experienced GS Kira. GSD Kira who doesn't mind killing would too powerful. It's the story balancing, which is quite natural.

b) Fallen is fast. Unlike the maximalist design taken by LOGOS, ZAFT and Terminal, Confeds use the minimalist design, meaning less weapons and armor for Fallen to ensure that it's fast. Think about a tank (which is quite fast) trying to hit a faster Humvee with its shells and you'll see what I mean. Also, just because Humvee's armor is quite thin in comparison, doesn't mean that it can't destroy a tank, right? Firepower isn't everything.

2. Shizuka, in this chapter underwent through two equipments. Also, notice that there's no mention of it glowing unlike the one in 'ORB's whisper,' Unlike Fujin which generates plasma to absorb beam shots, Mikaboshi have a radar jammer as a countermeasure.

3. I would like to thank Warboy the Destroyer for his help in technical military information.

4. For more information on SAPPER, please refer first chapter.

5. Shinn in this story is somewhat like Athrun in GSD, he became unsure of what is he doing. (minus the moping). I somehow think that this is what the director had in mind in GSD. Oh well, I get to do it then.

6. I know the fight scene is quite long as usual. Since I visualize all fights and pretended I see the anime, I found myself unable to skimp on the action. Then again, I wouldn't skimp on other important scenes as well.


	53. ORB's counterattack

"Are you all right, Fllay?" Kira asked, concern tinting his voice.

"Yes, although Fallen's Plume de Lune is damaged,"

"I am glad you're all right," he said honestly. He was worried for her safety when he saw the extensive damage to the HiMAT-like wings behind Fallen; that feeling was washed away by her voice. After calming himself, Kira thought of his next move. Once again his eyes settled on the wings. If he wasn't pressed by the urgency of the situation, he would have taken his time to examine the system. Although he had learned about it when he was in the college in Heliopolis, it was the first time Kira had seen the actual implementation of the 'Vectorial Thrust Variable Wing' concept. If it wasn't the fact that he was in the middle of a war, Kira would gladly study the whole thing. But as it was, it had to wait. He gently lowered Fallen so that the black mobile suit could stand by itself.

"I can still fight,"

"No," Kira said turned his attention toward Legend and Crusader which were waiting warily for his move. "It's better for you to sit this out. You have done a lot... and I want you to be safe," he said. He knew that his comment may seem to belittle her but he couldn't concentrate if that part inside him wanted to believe that he could still protect her.

Fllay nodded, trying to ignore the warm feeling ebbing in her heart.

"I will take care of the rest," he said. Then Freedom's twin Xiphias 3 railguns swiveled toward Legend and fired.

Rey saw the shots and prepared to intercept it by using Legend's CIWS which was why he didn't expect what happened next. Freedom raised its own beam rifles and fired at the projectiles just before they entered Legend's CIWS range, causing them to explode. Although he was surprised by what happened, Rey was quickly brought out of his reverie by warning from the Legend's radar. Freedom was using its projectiles to mask its movement; he reacted to the warning just in time as Legend's swords clashed with Freedom's own as the white and blue mobile suit emerged out of the explosion. Freedom's pilot was using the explosion to prevent him from seeing its move.

The golden haired ace grimaced. He could see why the older version of himself, the infamous Rau le Creuset was defeated at the hand of Freedom's pilot, one Kira Yamato.

Meanwhile Shinn was confused by the turn of the event. The appearance of Strike Freedom was unexpected since it was supposed to have perished along with Infinite Justice. But if it survived, then there's a possibility that he might be alive. He raised Destiny's head to look at the point where Strike Freedom came only to be shocked. There was no mistaking that the silhouettes that were descending toward him. "Infinite Justice… and Impulse," he said slowly. His former mobile suit had undergone some changes, yet still remained familiar. "ATHRUN! Are you Athrun?"

There was no answer forthcoming.

"GODDAMIT! Answer me, Athrun! Is that you piloting Justice?"

Infinite Justice slowly brought out its Super Lacerta beam saber and merged them to form a very long beam weapon with a handle in the middle. It then pointed the newly formed weapon toward Destiny as Impulse moved away from it.

"Athrun…,"

"Shinn, I'm not going to say this more than once: retreat now or I am going to have to attack you,"

Shinn couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You must be joking… right?" he asked hesitantly.

"No, I'm not" Athrun answered as Justice blazed toward Destiny and tried to chop its Wing of Light. Only Shinn's honed combat skill allowed him to block the attack with Arondight in the nick of the time. "Though I do find ZAFT attacking a country over some prisoners a bit funny for my taste,"

"What the hell are you thinking, Athrun? Your enemy is supposed to be Strike Freedom. Know your enemy!" Shinn said as he pushed his sword, forcing Justice to back up a bit.

"I don't have any enemy anymore, Shinn; I only have those whom I must fight," Athrun answered calmly. "Strike Freedom isn't one of them,"

"Why? Why must you fight us?"

"I can ask the same question to you, Shinn. Why do you fight ORB? Is it your enemy?" his former mentor said as Justice tried to decapitate Destiny's head next.

Shinn blocked Athrun's attack, at the same time. "I…"

"Ignore him, Shinn!" Rey said as Legend clashed sword with Freedom. "He is obviously in cohort with the terrorists and would do anything to protect their lucrative business." Aided by Crusader, Legend managed to push Freedom back, even if for a moment. "Remember that you're fighting for the sake of ORB, Shinn, to get rid of the undesirable elements. Don't let him influence you."

"You told me that you hated Kira and Freedom for causing the death of your family, Shinn. But isn't what we're doing right now is similar to what happened that time?" Athrun questioned him, hoping to make him understand that what happened that day was an accident. However, the question had Shinn arriving at a different conclusion. Unlike Fallen's pilot who accepted his reason even as they stood on different sides, Athrun seemed to be making light of what he told him. Slowly Destiny unsheathed its sword, sped toward Justice and kicked it away from the island's airspace.

"Athrun!" Lunamaria said in surprised over what happened.

"Stay back!" Athrun commanded. "Please lend support to ORB instead! I will fight him."

"I understand," she said as Impulse turned away.

"I've never thought someone like you will become a traitor, Luna," Rey managed to snipe despite being kept busy.

Lunamaria didn't respond to his taunt and flew toward the main land.

"You dragged Luna along as well, Athrun. It was just as well that her sister died or else I don't know how to tell her about you and her sister betraying ZAFT."

"You still don't get it, do you Shinn?" Athrun asked.

"No, it is you who don't get it, Athrun. I never wanted the war too be prolonged unnecessarily, so the casualties can be reduced. I don't know whether you ever felt like how I did, but know that I'll defeat you," he was silent for a moment, "_Commander_"

* * *

Mwu la Fllaga muttered a mute curse as he felt his mobile armour shook a bit as one of its wings scratched some random wall. He was fortunate that unlike Skygrasper, Murasame was moderately armoured and the affected wing didn't broke or something. 

However that aspect didn't exactly help his flight from surviving an enemy ambush in the city. That was the reason why he was flying solo among the tall high rise buildings with three GOUFs behind him. He could still remember his flying instructor saying that flying into a crowded city was the fastest way to wreck one's career or aircraft, whichever comes first. But the city he was flying in at that wasn't crowded. Also, his instructor didn't take into account that mobile suits would be the future of aerial dogfighting.

Beam shots passing by his cockpit reminded him that his three pursuers were intent on giving him short , yet effective acupuncture session or turning his cockpit into single occupancy sauna room, both free of charge. Sometimes, he hated his own mouth. As it was, he had promised Murrue that he would return and he did not want to make her cry again due to him dying a second time. Since he had gotten his memory back, Mwu wondered whether it was better for him to keep feigning amnesia but from the way she looked at him from time to time, it wouldn't be a good idea.

A warning tone went off and Fllaga moved his Murasame toward the ground, all the time trying to ensure that the wings wouldn't hit the buildings on its left and right. Few bursts of jade-green beams passed harmlessly overhead. He had no time to celebrate as another alarm told him that he was too close to the ground. Mwu increased the altitude a bit to prevent his Murasame from running smack into a traffic light. The response was a bit sluggish compared to Exxas or even his personal Windam, though he couldn't really complain. It did the job of saving his bacon well. Of course, that would be for the moment as he was sure that the little golden haired lioness would throw him into a windowless jail for reckless piloting.

He couldn't see the three mobile suits that was chasing after him though they were right behind him, using their beam guns and not their melee weapons. It was the exact reason why he dived into the city when they ambushed him; they couldn't use their more potent heat rods and beam swords on him because of the narrow space. Mwu tried to shake them for a few minutes, turning at a very a tight junction or flying acrobatically through a narrow space between two buildings. Despite what he did, they still managed to catch up to him. They also seemed to know that he wanted to separate them and then take them out one by one; the trio stuck together, protecting each other from him. Finally, one of them slightly damaged one of his Mursame's ailerons.

It was then Mwu decided on an action that he had considered doing earlier but didn't because of its absurdness.

He slammed on the Murasame's airbrake, dropping the mobile armour's speed suddenly. He then reconfigured it into its mobile suit mode and drew out its MPG-5Z beam machinegun and its Type 70J Kai beam saber. The move caught his pursuers by surprise and one of them flew directly into its back while the other two overshoot it. Despite the jarring of his cockpit, Mwu took his time to lock on the two before open fired. While the two GOUFs came crashing into a building and the street respectively, the war veteran turned his Murasame around and slashed the ZAFT mobile suit behind it. Still shocked by what had happened, the inexperienced pilot never stood a chance.

Mwu winced as he looked at the three GOUF mobile suits crashing to the ground before exploding. Cagalli really would have his head for all the damages he caused. He shrugged. That would be a good material for the book that he wanted to write; if he ever got around to do it.

His Murasame reconfigured and flew away. He wasn't sure about the book as he was a bit lazy to write; it would certainly make a good bedtime story for his and Murrue's children though.

* * *

Barzhakov looked at the Minerva's blueprint that was being displayed on one of the screens. "Hmm… Enishi, it's a good thing that I didn't bet with you. Our goddess's underside armor is a thinner, just like you said at that time," 

Enishi nodded, silently pleased at his vindication.

"It would be fun to play chicken like the last time, but I don't believe they will fall for it. Are they ready in place?"

"Not yet," Sammy announced.

"So we have to keep Minerva busy then," Barzhakov said. "Very well, set course to intercept Minerva." He adjusted his cap a bit. "I think Minerva's captain will be quite estactic to see us."

Enishi shook his head. The last time the two ships had clashed, it ended up with Minerva's captain promising that she would destroy Cherubim.

"Sammy," Barzhakov continued. "Tell everyone that we'll be conducting a full scale GAVE,"

"Will do," the woman said as she snapped on her seatbelt before making the announcement.

"GAVE?" Enishi asked.

"Don't tell me you didn't read the SOP books we gave you." Barzhakov said with an amused expression. "That would certainly taint my respect for ORB's military tendency to go by the book."

"Er… I didn't remember it very well," the ORB military man answered, lying a little. He had skipped through some chapters of the Standard Operating Procedure manual given to him but it wouldn't do for him to admit that; not to someone like Barzhakov who didn't even read such a book.

"You'll pick it up later," the Cherubim's captain commented as he adjusted his own seat belt. "All right, comrades, today we will win over Minerva… or go swim with the fishes."

"Very _optimistic_ of you, Captain," Elizabeth, who was at the helm scoffed.

"Realistic, my dear."

The delta-winged ship began to accelerate toward Minerva as the two ships began to exchange shots. Cherubim's Gottfrieds were answered with Minerva's Tristan whereas its Valiants were matched with Isolde.

Like flying leviathans, the two ships kept battling for supremacy above ORB's water. The disabling of Tannhauser earlier had level the playing field somewhat as Cherubim's armor plating was almost at par with Minerva's. After few minutes have passed, Sammy said, "They're ready, sir."

"Good. Tell them that we'll deliver but the rest is up to them," Barzhakov said. "Reduce speed by 10 percent."

"But sir, if we do that, then Minerva would be able to get behind us," Enishi remarked.

"We're getting nowhere at this rate and the more we stall for time the advantagous it will be for ZAFT."

"I know that, but…"

"Trust me… and buckle up."

"Minerva's almost behind us," Sammy announced.

"Elizabeth… Immelman turn, please. Sammy, prep the jamming rounds"

Even as his safety buckle snapped in place, Enishi couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Immelman turn?"

As if answering his question, Cherubim began to climb. Intead of just gaining attitude, the ship kept turning until it executed a half loop and was upside down. The movement also caused the ship to be approaching Minerva.

"Jamming rounds, followed by Valiants."

Cherubim shook slightly as the ship fired its ordnance. The jamming rounds hit their targets, evidenced by the delta-winged ship's radars and sensors going while because of the proximity to the explosion.

At the same time, Enishi finally realized what GAVE meant. It's just a gravitional equivalent of the well-known All Vectors Engagements term used to refer to ship battles in space. Most surface vessels on earth remained grounded and conduct their operations in the same situation. But space-going vessels fought differently as they could move in various directions and vectors. Examples of that would be Archangel and Minerva. Curiously enough, when it operate on Earth, the two ships' movement became similar to earth vessels, except when they're climbing or descending. He expected Cherubim to be the same.

"Cherubim has always had the ability to fight like this," Barzhakov quipped, as if understanding what Enishi was thinking. "In fact, maybe Minerva and Archangel can do it as well. It's just that there's no need to do so in the past, so we didn't."

"I'm honestly surprised." The ORB soldier's eyebrows knitted. Was there any reason to perform the aerial maneuver then, he asked himself.

"Maybe Captain Gladys was surprised as well, if Minerva's slow reaction is of any indication."

"What now, Captain?" Sammy asked.

"Now we wait and see." The ship shook as a missile exploded few meters away from its bow. "But not staying still of course,"

* * *

Anyone not very familiar with the white and red mobile suit would be surprised to know that it was Impulse. Unlike the normal silhouettes that it normally mounted, Impulse was carrying two Mavica-Ts, a nightstick-like weapon that had integrated beam rifle and beam blade. There was a linear cannon mounted on its right shoulder a standard issue ZAFT beam Gatling to its left. Inside its cockpit, Lunamaria was warring with herself. Despite what she had said to Athrun, she was still unsure of the right thing to do. Earlier on, when he had asked her whether she would like to remain in space to guard Terminal's base, he had hinted that it would be quite tough for her to participate in the battle in ORB as it may required her fighting against ZAFT mobile suits. To that, Lunamaria replied that she knew her duty which was to fight against injustice that was being committed by ZAFT. Of course, knowing and doing it were two different things. 

She eyed the gun-metal black mobile suit that was making its way to the power station along with hers. Fallen may suffered some damage that prevented it from participating in the fight with Destiny and others, but it could still hold its own against run-of-the-mill grunts. Attha seemed to believe that it can protect the objective, which was why it was requested there. And Athrun thought that it would be better Lunamaria followed along, lest she got dragged into the fight against her friends.

A beam shot forced her to evade.

A Murasame, no doubt being piloted by an overeager greenhorn pilot who obviously didn't know about her status being classified as a 'friendly', flew in for a kill. She considered calling the pilot, but decided that it would be quite useless as the pilot wouldn't believe her. Nevertheless, she didn't want to have to deal with Murasame; killing it would cause her a lot of trouble later on.

But Fallen's pilot had an answer to her predicament. It took aim and fired, all of the shots deliberately made to force the Murasame to stop. Then, Fallen turned away and continued moving. The Murasame didn't pursue. Its pilot seemed to understand that both Fallen and Impulse could defeat it easily but didn't so because of them not perceiving it as an enemy.

With the interruption out of the way, the duo continued with their journey and arrived at the power station few minutes later. The sight that greeted them shocked Lunamaria. Parts from both ORB and ZAFT's mobile suits literally strewn all over the power station.

"Looks like both sides getting hammered," she commented.

Fallen kneeled down to pick up a small object. "Despite being overwhelmed, ORB's defense force somehow managed to hold up."

Lunamaria looked at the object in Fallen's hand and was puzzled why it picked up a mangled and half-burned lion plush toy but kept her peace. Then her computer called for her attention: nine GOUFs have appeared over the horizon.

"What will you do?" Fallen's pilot asked, as if knowing Lunamaria's new predicament and letting her decide.

Swallowing hard, the Impulse pilot opened the communication channel. "This is Lunamaria Hawke…," she stopped as she pondered her next words since she wasn't in ZAFT anymore, "… and I order you to retreat."

The leader of the attackers brandished its beam sword. "You must be joking! There is no way we are going to listen to you," The group split into two, one group attacked Impulse whereas the other one went after Fallen.

Impulse brought up its right stick whose side glowed light reddish to block an attack aimed at its cockpit. It then used the other one to bash the attacker, pushing it away. "What are you thinking you're doing?"

"Taking care of a traitorous trash, obviously." Another pilot said as he fired off several shots.

A lightwave barrier erected in front of Impulse, blocking the shots. Its linear cannon than fired a shot aimed at the feet of one of the GOUFs. The GOUF quickly moved away. "You…" Lunamaria spat as Impulse swerved. A GOUF passed by, its attempt to attack Impulse in the back failed. Impulse dropped to its feet and hit the former's legs with one of its nightstick. The weapon cut through them easily and without its legs, the GOUF fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes.

"Not bad," the leader said as he resumed his attack while being assisted by his two wingmen.

Even though Lunamaria was a Red elite, she found herself being pushed back slowly. It was then Impulse back stepped into a hole and fall down.

"I got you now!" he said as his mobile suit poised to deliver the lethal blow to Impulse.

By instinct Lunamaria jabbed the night-stick at her assailant's chest. A second later, a green beam pierced through it and the mobile suit exploded. With its Phase Shift armor protecting it from the blast, Impulse stood up in the middle of the burning wreckage.

"SHE GOT THE CHIEF," a pilot shouted in anger. "Let's get her!" he cried as he and his two colleagues lunged toward Impulse.

Impulse aimed the two weapons in its hands. It then fired off the beam rifle built into Mavica-T at the two of them and used the beam Gatling on the last one. Despite what Lunamaria wanted to do, she ended up killing all of the ZAFT pilots that opposed her.

Fallen, who had taken care of its own enemies earlier way earlier moved to Impulse side.

"Why didn't you help me?" Lunamaria asked.

"You wouldn't like it if I did that."

"Yeah," she concurred while she kept her gaze on the burning wreckages.

* * *

"Rina, use Phoenix Tail to grab Freedom," Rey said. It was useless as only static sounds answered his call. Someone had jammed the airwaves, he decided. Making a frustated sound, he engaged the airbrake and a beam shot passed just few meters in front of Legend. With the disturbance, he had no choice but hope that his colleague would be able to spot any oppurtunity that will present itself. Calling for additional backup was also out of the question because of the said interference. 

Unlike Fallen which had remained elusive throughout its fight with them, Rey estimated that Freedom's speed somewhat similar to Legend, which in turn was a bit slower than Destiny. But

What it lacked in dexterity however, it compensated with heavy firepower.

"I'll get you, Kira Yamato," Rey vowed as Legend evaded a shot from Freedom's combined MA-M21KF rifle. Legend's DRAGOON beam machine guns gyrated on their points and began raining beam shots on its adversary, with Rey aiming to score a hit with the non-stop firing or at least create an opening for Crusader to finish the job.

However, that objective would be very difficult to achieve. Even as Freedom streaked across ORB's sky to avoid his attacks, it did so while managing to keep Crusader busy by unleashing few attacks of its own. Also, the pilot's cunningness complement his skill quiet well. In one instance, Rey thought that he had finally got Freedom in his sight and fired, only to have it moved to the left. It was fortunate that one of Crusader's beam shields was still functioning or it wouldn't have survived the crossfire. That had forced Rey to be extra careful when firing, lest he risked hitting his own colleague.

Rey fired again, this time hitting the two Xiphias 3 projectiles that was aimed at Legend. His blood curdled when he remembered that something similar had happened earlier and prepared for Freedom to charge from the explosion. But it didn't come. Instead, a ruby-colored beam pierced through shroud and would have hit Legend's cockpit if not for Rey's last moment action. Despite that, the shot managed to claim one of Legend's beam pike units.

Although he was normally a calm man, he couldn't help gritting his teet in frustation.

He kept fighting, together with Crusader until the two of them managed to force Freedom to move near Justice, almost causing the two of them to collide with each other. Because of that, Freedom had to slow a bit, which what Rey had been waiting for so that he could target it properly. Just as his finger pressed on trigger button, Justice fired its Grappling Stinger rocket anchor at Freedom which then caught it using its left hand. The red mobile suit then yanked its counterpart out of Legend's attacks and then propelled it toward Destiny. At the same time, Justice moved in to fight the two ZAFT mobile suits. In just a span of few seconds, the two of them changed their position, all without radio communication. The level of cohesion shown by the two was worrying to Rey.

An explosion on Destiny's chest caught his attention but an attack by Justice forced him to refocus his attention. Legend's sword clashed with Justice which then moved away before he could counterattacked. He would have gave chase if not for a beam shot passing in front of him. He turned toward the source and saw that Freedom was coming toward him. It turned out that the shot was fired by Crusader to try to hit Freedom as well as to warn him.

The warning came too late as Legend's hand was chopped off while trying to protect against the attack.

"YAMATO!" Rey screamed as Legend's DRAGOONs swiveled in their places to target Freedom.

Freedom moved the side where it cut off Legend's arm and slashed again, this time taking off its arm as well as a part of the DRAGOON housing behind it. It was at that moment Rey almost swore that he could feel malevolence behind the attack; something unexpected from Yamato whom he had pegged as being more docile than a deer. That would have explained probably how his older self fell by the said person's hand. As sudden as its attack, Freedom took off to avoid the beam shots coming out of the remaining DRAGOON units.

Rey swore that he would get Yamato's hide, even if it would kill him.

* * *

Minerva shook as a missile got through its CIWS blanket hit a scant few meters from the bridge, causing its captain to grip her chair's hand rests tightly as the whole place shook."Status?" she asked. 

"Damage minimal," Arthur answered.

"Our communication?" Talia asked.

"Negative," Abby answered.

Talia put a thumb under her lip, striking a thoughtful pose. What would Cherubim gain by jamming the radio frequency? She and the others weres so engrossed in their thoughts and duty that they failed to see the door behind them opened slightly and a small fibre optic camera being poked through it. The camera relayed visual to the group of people dressed in light armor body suits and had their gas masks on. Pleased with what he saw, one of them motioned to his squad to get into position. Talia heard the sound of a canister rolling on the floor behind her and a second later, a hissing sound appeared. Then she found the whole room being filled with smoke and everyone began to cough uncontrollably.

As the vile plume caused her lung to feel as if it was on fire and her eyes to water uncontrollably; she tried to activate the alarm. However, doing that was almost impossible as her eyesight wavered. She presevered and managed to locate the correct button on her chair and pressed it.

The alarm didn't go off.

She pressed it again to no avail. It was then she noticed the large shotgun muzzle trained at her face. At the risk of being shot, she raised her head to look at the person wielding the weapon only to have a person wearing a gas mask starring at her. The smoke finally abated, due to the ship's functioning circulation system, revealing to her that all of the ship's crew was under arrest by other masked intruders.

"Don't move," her captor commanded in a voice that was muffled by the mask he was wearing.

"What will happen if I don't?" Talia asked trying to stall for time.

The masked man gestured to around him, not so subtly hinting that the crew would pay for her action.

From her seat, Talia saw Arthur had his face being pushed against his console, Abby had her hands being tied up whereas everyone else had their hands up. Try as she might, she couldn't help becoming a bit distressed by the situation. She slowly nodded and raised her hands.

"Good if you understand," the man said who gestured to the person who was holding Abby captive.

Talia looked at the weapon facing her and wondered if she could try wrestle it away, gambling on her movement being faster than her captor. Before she could think on the idea further, she was surprised by signal flares appearing on the main screen. It was a ZAFT's signal calling for a total retreat. "_But why did St. Helens launched..._" Talia's widened when she realised that the signal came from her ship and her consternation grew when she saw ZAFT's force becoming disarrrayed and confused because of the signal. As if anticipating what her next reaction, the man in front of her shoved his weapon's muzzle to her heart. Despite that, she scowled. "You planned this from the very beginning, do you?"

The man didn't answer. However Talia could almost feel he was smiling underneath his mask.

At the same time, there wasn't any trace of a smile on the ZAFT commander who was in charge in the attack on ORB. "What do you mean our forces is in disarray?" he demanded from his second-in-command.

"Some of our forces has begun to withdraw, thus losing some of the advances we have made on the theatre," the man answered.

"Why are they retreating?" the commander said, raising his voice slightly higher. "The report just five minutes ago said that we're making significant progress,"

"It's because of Minerva launching the retreat signal."

"SAY WHAT? Did someone replaced Gladys' pea-sized brain with rocks? Contact our force and tell them that St. Helens is still in charge and to keep pressing. I'll have Gladys' head later."

His assistant issued a crisp order to the radio operator who turned toward them and shook his head no. The whole communication network have been jammed.

"Get us to the periscope level and we'll fire our own signal flares."

"Sir, we've picked up Archangel coming our way."

"Where's Coulomb? It is supposed to deal with that cursed ship."

"We can't trace its signal."

"Damn," the commander swore.

While the ZAFT's field command viewed what Minerva did was vert damaging to the attack it launched, its ORB counterpart was baffled, but relieved by what happened. As she stood watching one of the screens showing Cherubim and its mobile suits defending themselves from few stray ZAFT units, Cagalli somehow felt that the ship had something to do with what happened.

"Lady Attha, we have confirmation that ZAFT force is in disarray in many sectors." Kisaka, who was standing beside her reported.

"Have we been able to establish radio with our main force?" she asked one of the CIC officers

"Negative," the officer said as he continued typing. "I estimate that we'll be able to pierce through Cherubim's jamming in five, four minutes more,"

"Four minutes," Cagalli mused out silently. "Then ZAFT's probably have the similar time window, right?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Do we have alternative communication system?"she asked the CIC officers again.

"We can also use flares and there's some other means… for example, we can use the billboards and the public speakers all over the city to transmit our orders. There will be some lag before they get the orders but our situation is better than ZAFT's"

"I see," Cagalli said as she had a thoughtful look on her face.

Kisaka looked at the young leader, knowing very well what was going through her mind. Despite sorely tempted to advise her, Kisaka held his tongue, knowing that she would have to make the decision by herself because either way, the decision would be very painful to make.

Only a few seconds passed though it had felt as if hours had passed before Cagalli made her decision, her eyes were cold-steel. "Signals our own force to counterattack and to keep pressing even if the enemies are retreating…. Also, I want few of our Murasames to follow the retreating mobile suits from afar and then attack their carriers just before they land."

He nodded at her, reassuring Cagalli that her decision was a right one. While it didn't seem fair, but it was important that ORB damage or destroy as many ZAFT mobile suits and ships as it can to ensure that ZAFT wouldn't be able to regroup effectively. The tactic was also intended the break its moral and also sent a message to its high command that ORB is a force to reckon with.

A few minutes later, it could be seen that the situation had changed, with ORB slowly gaining hands, as can be seen from Minerva's main screen. "Now, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to invite all of you to move to that corner," Talia's captor, apparently the leader of the group of armed soldiers who capture Minerva's bridge, said in a somewhat mocking tone.

As every ZAFT personnel began to get up, Talia came to a decisive conclusion. She would not let the ship fall into their hands. Because she could't call for help and the ship's automated system allowed it to be manned almost entirely from the bridge, she decided that the only option she had was to arm Minerva's self destruct sequence, which was located on a secret location on captain's seat. With that in mind, she tried to find an opportunity to activate it. Her gaze happened to settled on Arthur who nodded slightly.

Arthur got up from his seat slowly, keeping his hands up. Then, suddenly, he lunged toward the nearest intruder and attempted to wrestle the weapon he was carrying. Talia quickly seized the chance of everyone's attention being misdirected to activate the ship's self destruct sequece, not stopping even when a gun shot broke out and a scream could be heard. Successfully activating it, she turned to see Arthur's body on the floor. It turned out that the shot was fired by Abby's guard.

Then there was a woman's voice on the speakers, announcing that the ship's self-destruct sequence have been activated and the ship's autopilot began to kicked in. The ship began to descend, as the navigation computer plotted the nearest safe place to land while computer's voice continued, telling that there were few minutes left and asking Minerva's personnel to go to the designated evacuation point.

The hijackers' leader turned toward Talia. "You're making a very big mistake. Maybe you would like to turn it off."

Talia watched Arthur's crumpled form on the floor and then stared at the man in front of her defiantly. "Never!" she stated boldly amidst the blaring siren. "Instead, I suggest you leave the ship before it explode."

There was a sight tremor as the ship touched down on the sea. Meanwhile, with most of the crew being relocated to a corner and being watched by two people, some of the hijackers began to access the ship's computers.

"It's pointless," Talia said. "Even all of you work together, there's not enough time to get through the encryption."

The leader gave a signal to the one who arrested Abby who then sat at her terminal and began typing at a phenomenal rate. To Talia's horror, the main screen showed that one by one security protocols being bypassed. Despite her being in a precarious position, she craned her neck to see the hacker.

"Impressive, right?" a masculine voice caused her to turn to the front.

The man had removed his mask, revealing a face Talia couldn't believe was still alive. "Terrence Shauzer..."

"Yes, in person unfortunately, since I did contribute to the design; I need to be here."

There was an announcement that the self-destruct sequence have been aborted.

"How?" Talia managed to squeak.

Terrence gestured toward the hacker on Abby's seat.

She followed his direction and almost had a heart attack.

"Introducing our best cracker... Meyrin Hawke."

"YOU… TRAITOR!" Talia accused.

"Traitor to what?" Meyrin asked quietly.

"You betrayed ZAFT!"

"No. It is ZAFT that betrayed its principles" Heine, his mask also removed, replied while guarding other prisoners. "At the same time, Miss Poppins was trying hard not to betray her own conviction."

"By killing Arthur?

Terrence pushed Arthur's body slowly using his leg to reveal that there was no wounds on the man's body and eliciting a small groan from him. "Well, it's better to be knocked out by a rubber baton gun than being taken out by a submachinegun, right?"

"Thanks to the activation of the self destruct sequence by you, most of this ships' crew are busy trying to escape. Thus, we'll be able to confine most of them in the escape bays, ensuring thatthere would be a lower chance of a possible attempt to retake this bridge." Heine said.

Talia lowered her head at the thought that she was outsmarted. "I see. So, you allowing Arthur to distract you is intentional,"

"Yes," the blonde pilot replied. "The credit for the whole idea comes from Meyrin. Of course, there's a huge risk of failure if not for the fact that she managed to acquire this ship's ventilation and emergency exits map before Gilbert chased after her. So when Cherubim made that loop and fired the jamming rounds, we took that oppurtunity to land on this ship with our mobile suit."

"The one that we destroyed a few minutes ago..."

Terrence's expression hardened. "Yeah, I guess you got him. But continuing on with the story, we've been able to get in and made our way here without any opposition. I guess the diversionary attack by Cherubim ensured that everyone's onboard would be too busy manning their station."

"So now what?" Talia asked again, giving up on the possibility of her being able to recapture the ship and resigning to her fate.

"The aftermath wouldn't be pretty, but battle will end soon," Terrence said while glancing at the main screen that was displaying an underwater explosion, "as for Minerva though, it is over."

* * *

1

* * *

**Author's note (15 September 2007)**

1. It's been a while since I updated and I would like to apologize. I've changed job recently and it's a bit… overwhelming for me. Trying to change few habits at the same time is a bit challenging. For example, last time I used to wake up at 10 a.m. in the weekends, and now I still do wake up at the same time. But I wake up at 5.00 a.m. every working day now.

2. This chapter is even longer than the previous one because I want most of the parts wrapped up now rather than the next chapter. I even deleted two scenes because to make it shorter.

3. Thanks to Zidane Lightning Saix for the term 'Vectorial Thrust Variable Wing'. I was raking my head trying to come up with something suitable to call it, and he had helped with the suggestion


	54. Temporary respite

Shinn looked at Legend and then at Crusader. Unlike Destiny with had fought with nary a scratch, the two mobile suits were damaged enough to affect their fight against Freedom and Justice. If the fight dragged on, it would be obvious how it would turn out. Making his decision, he deployed Destiny's M2000GX high-energy long-range beam cannon and fired at Justice to push it off. Destiny then activated its Wing of Light and then sped off toward Freedom that was in the middle of engagement with Legend and Crusader.

Realizing his attack, Kira counterattacked with a slash though it missed and hit Destiny's afterimage instead. The latter quickly moved closer to its inside and Freedom was forced to raise its shield to block any possible attack. But Shinn, knowing very well that Freedom would make the move, put its right palm above the shield and fired off the built-in "Palma Fiocina" palm beam cannon at point blank. Due to the proximity of the two mobile suits, the shot exploded when it hit Freedom's shield and pushed it back. Shinn quickly followed the attack with another shot from the left palm beam cannon.

The gambit was successful as Freedom's pilot lost control of his mobile suit for a moment and had to retreat a bit.

Legend and Crusader moved to Destiny's left and right. "Good attack, Shinn," Rey congratulated him.

"Seems like the jamming is over."

"In our favor. Together we'll defeat the two of them."

Before Legend could move forward, Destiny's hand stopped it.

"Shinn?"

"Let's not kid ourselves, Rey. Legend and Crusader are in no position to fight. I think it's better for the two of you to retreat."

"We're still on a mission, Shinn." Rey reminded him.

"Look around us, Rey and you tell me the situation whether we're winning or not. You're the clever one. Me? I'm just a self-centered idiot."

Despite what he had said, Rey was by no means delusional about the situation. Despite the gains ZAFT had commanded earlier, ORB force was counterattacking and breaking through its confused flank. He still didn't understand why Captain Talia launched the retreat flare signal prematurely, thus contributing to the chaos. Gilbert would be very displeased when he learned about that. "Very well. Rina. We'll provide cover while our forces regroup."

While Rey knew what Shinn planned to do, Crusader's pilot didn't and decided to ask. "How about you, Shinn?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Shinn asked back as Destiny, Arondight in hand, settled on an attacking stance.

"And you think you can defeat the two of them all by yourselves?"

To that question, Shinn chuckled.

"Well?"

"Sorry. When you asked me that question, I couldn't help myself from laughing."

"Damn arrogant prick! You think you're so hot?"

"It's not what you think. I didn't even know if I can win against one of them." Shinn replied as he gazed at the two mobile suits in front of him. "Against two of them, I know that I'll lose." Destiny's Wing of Light began to ignite. "though I can at least buy some time for the two of you." With that, Destiny sped off toward Freedom and Justice, leaving only trails of light in its wake.

"That idiot..." Crusader's pilot said, not very satisfied with what Shinn decided.

"Come, Rina, we mustn't let his action be in vain," Rey said as Legend left the place, personally hoping that Shinn would survive if not victorious.

Upon seeing Shinn attack, Athrun said to his friend, "Kira, I will fight him."

Truth be told, Kira would prefer not to let Athrun fight his former protégé all by himself. Destiny had shown itself to be a very capable mobile suit. However, the Freedom ace understood that Athrun had unresolved issues with Destiny's pilot. He looked at the small triangle on the radar denoting Legend. When he fought against Legend, he couldn't ignore the small sinking feeling in his gut. It was as if he had fought against that person before. It was just like the time when he fought against Mwu and Fllay in Berlin.

A booming sound echoed in his cockpit, caught by Freedom's auditory sensors when Destiny and Justice clashed weapons, but Kira didn't really pay attention to it. He was more concerned about the person piloting Legend.

Why was it that he felt as if he fought against Rau La Creuset?

* * *

Terrence looked at the ZAFT officers who were gathered at one place as one of his men finished putting plastic zip cuffs on them. "Although the cuffs are made of plastic and very light, they're almost as effective as normal handcuff. I hope they're not too tight." 

"Do you really care?" Talia asked icily.

Rolling his eyes up, Terrence answered, "Despite our differences, Captain, I do treat prisoners decently." He gestured toward one of the sentries. "I really hope that there would be no fracas like before. I'm sure you recognize that he's carrying a sub-machinegun instead of baton launchers some of us carry. And please note that the switch is set to 'full auto'," he finished, implying that if the sentry opened fire at any attempt to subdue him, the recoil might cause him to hit innocent bystanders.

"Communication jamming has ended," Meyrin, who had resumed her former position as the CIC officer announced. Meanwhile, the other infiltration group members had taken their places as well with Heine at helms, leaving only two who was assigned to look after the captured ZAFT personnel.

"Right on time," Heine quipped.

"Connect us with Cherubim," Terrence said.

"HELLO, CAPTAIN GLADYS." Barzhakov's voice boomed throughout Minerva's bridge as he appeared on the screen. "GLAD TO SEE THAT YOU'RE DOING FINE."

"I'm not sorry to say that I don't wish the same for you," the captured ship captain said with a hint of venom in her voice.

"I GUESS NOT."

"How's the situation?" Terrence asked.

"IT'S AS PREDICTED. ZAFT IS RETREATING, THOUGH I'M QUITE SURPRISED THAT ORB'S FORCE GAVE CHASE EVEN BEYOND ITS MARITIME BORDER."

"First time for everything, perhaps."

"PERHAPS."

"I can't wait to thank Vince for the success of the mission." Even though it was Meyrin's idea to enter Minerva through one of its numerous emergency hatches, it was due to Vince's skill in piloting the mobile suit Maestro that allowed the insertion team that it carried in a modified compartment to enter Minerva safely. The mobile suit couldn't just land on the ship because it could be detected easily. What it did was to follow Minerva's flight almost exactly while a makeshift sky bridge extended from the insertion compartment to the emergency hatch; although Minerva was slow in comparison with Maestro, maintaining the similar flight plan was difficult.

After the insertion was completed, Terrence's team made their way the ventilation system, going out in the open only if needed. That was why they managed to escaped detection by Minerva's internal security whose attention was also misdirected by Cherubim's attack on it. Once they arrived at the bridge, the rest was history. Even the security protocols weren't of any problems as Meyrin had accidentally cracked through them while she was stationed onboard Minerva, so redoing the whole thing wasn't as difficult as predicted. When the ship was in design phase, Terrence had proposed the use of a stronger encryption algorithm but the design committee had decided on the current one instead, which was a good thing for his team.

Barzhakov was quiet for a moment. "CURRENTLY, WE'VE BEEN UNABLE TO TRACE HIS SIGNAL."

"I see." Despite the rather vague answer given, Terrence could easily understand the real meaning of the statement. To put it bluntly, Maestro was shot down. He looked at the face on the screen and saw that there was something else left unsaid. "Fallen?"

Barzhakov shook his head. "SHE PICKED UP MR. SNOOKUM'S REMAIN."

Terrence didn't say anything but slammed his fist on the console, not really caring whether he anything or not. Despite being a dangerous pilot, Nash would never leave his favorite plush toy behind. Terrence should know as he was the video game junkie's best friend ever since he joined Cherubim. "Do you know how he died?"

"OVERRAN BY ZAFT WHILE GUARDING A PRIMARY TARGET, THOUGH IT SEEMED THAT HE MANAGED TO GET THEM AS WELL."

"Perfect score as always," Terrence commented with a sad smile. "He always annoyed me with his record and now I have no chance of breaking it, that dumbass."

"Mr. Shauzer, we have Impulse and Fallen coming in," Meyrin called out.

There would be time to mourn later. As for the time being, he had to concentrate at the task on hand. "Guide them for landing."

"WELL, I'LL LEAVE THE TWO OF THEM TO YOU," Barzhakov finished before signing off.

"I think it's better for them to land on the ship instead of coming in," Heine suggested.

"Like Heine said," Terrence remarked. He could see the logic behind Heine's words. Despite their managing to trap Minerva's crew at the emergency escape points; there might be a few who was still running around. With his small group people operating the highly automatic ship, smoking them out would have to be done later.

* * *

The fight between Legend and Destiny had dragged on for quite some time, worrying Kira who was watching on the sideline. While he had respected his friend's earlier request to fight Destiny by himself, he knew that it wouldn't be easy for Athrun to win the fight. Firstly, Athrun was quite hesitant to kill his former protégé which required him to resort to disabling Destiny. That wasn't an easy thing to do as Destiny's pilot was not a pushover. 

Kira couldn't be sure whether Athrun would win even he fought seriously. What should he do?

Even while its pilot was deep in his thought, Freedom's hands reached for its beam rifles and fired at its both sides. The shot from right rifle tore through the head of a GOUF that was stupid enough to sneak an attack on him. At the same time, the left rifle hit the flight pack of another ZAFT mobile suit that was about to finish off a crippled Murasame, sending it careening into the ocean.

Eyes still transfixed to the fight between Justice and Destiny, Kira had to admit that the latter's pilot had improved so much since Berlin and certainly more composed than the time when he and Athrun took down Freedom.

Similar thought was running through Athrun's mind as he pushed off Arondight using his own sword. He honestly was surprised by his inability to land a hit on Shinn all that time. He fired off Justice's rocket anchor at Destiny's, intending to snag the mobile suit and then dragged it toward him for an attack.

Shinn had a similar idea, as evidenced by Destiny catching the anchor and then yanked Justice toward it instead. It then sped off toward its opponent.

Knowing that he had to see it to the very end, Athrun did the same.

Both Justice and Destiny were about to deliver a blow at each other when a red beam passed between the two of them. Startled, both of them looked to its origin.

"Instead of hacking each other, maybe the two of you can talk nicely," a feminine voice became audible in their respective cockpit.

"Say what you want, Luna but I'll keep fighting till the end," Shinn said as he eyed Justice.

"Rey had long left," she commented a bit tartly. "if that's the reason why you fight."

"You know that I will not surrender,"

"Then maybe you better just move away a bit and activate the self-destruct, since you're in no mood to live," Lunamaria snorted.

"Meyrin would be _very proud_ of you for saying that,"

"Um… if you really ask for my opinion, I do agree with her, although her words are a bit brusque." Another voice joined in.

"Mey…rin?" Shinn couldn't believe what he was hearing. Wasn't the girl supposed to be dead at the hand of LOGOS

"Look," Lunamaria said, her voice a bit softer despite still having some edge in it, "all we want is for you to give us a chance to show explain to you the reality of the whole war. If after this you decide to walk away, we'll let you do so,"

"On whose words?"

"Lacus Clyne's."

"The pinky pop star?" Shinn asked incredulously.

"The same one who commandeered a battleship in the previous war."

He really didn't know whether he could believe what he was hearing. But he wanted to know, no, to demand an explanation from everyone involved on why they switched side. "Very well," he sighed. "I shall take _your_ words for it."

"Thank you. And Athrun…" Luna's voice was a bit too sweet. "We'll need to talk about you suddenly going gung-ho."

"Not married yet and she already whip your ass," Shinn sneered at his former commander.

"Athrun, acting callously stupid is Shinn's forte. There's no need for you to wrestle the crown away from him."

"HEY!"

* * *

Directly above ORB's orbit, three ZAFT Nazca-class battleships were receiving the visual that its high command didn't dream of: ZAFT was suffering more losses than in the attack against Azores Islands. "Damn!" the commander, onboard the leading ship swore. "We were winning! How could this happen?" he asked, knowing that none of his crew had any real answer. 

"Sir, what should we do?" his executive officer, an attractive brunette whose uniform did nothing to hide her curvaceous body questioned.

"The bulk of our force?" Stress and frustration had a diminishing effect on his libido; he didn't even turn to feast his eyes on her like he usually did.

"Most of them are beyond the designated perimeter. However Minerva is still inside it, along with some stragglers."

"Then we will carry out the attack, just as instructed by," the commander stopped short of mentioning 'Mr. Chairman', "PLANT's leadership."

"How about Minerva and ..."

"Collateral damages," he said, brushing off the woman's words. "Prepare the stolen Alliance nuclear missiles for ORB bombardment." Some LOGOS idiots had forgotten to remove some nuclear warheads from an underground bunker in Berlin and ZAFT's higher echelon saw it fit for them to be used for 'peace'. The commander also neglected to mention the fact that it would be better to let some of ZAFT forces to be decimated by the nuclear attack; no one would believe that the attack was carried out by ZAFT instead of the crumbling Alliance.

"Captain, we have two incoming," the CIC personnel announced.

"Ours?"

"IFF turned out blank... wait, seems like they're registered on the database... a moment please."There was a puzzled look on the man's face. "I'm not sure why but we've identified them as FALCONs. What should we do?"

The captain tried to remember the reason why the name seemed quite familiar. He became panicked when he died. "Launch all of our mobile suits now!"

As one by one ZAFT mobile suits were being launched from the three ships, the two intruders, a fifty-meter long spacecraft moved toward their objectives. Armed with twin ship-class beam cannons at its canard, the newcomers whose shape vaguely resembled giant birds-of-prey also mounted few missile pods as well as beam rifles on their 'wings', lending an intimidating aura to them. Not that it would matter much, as their opponents were already intimidated by their designation alone. Their designation, an acronym for 'Frontal Assault Launcher, Combat Operation eNforcer', depicted very well what they were designed to do.

Just like the disappearance of Eternal at the end of the first war, the theft of FALCON blueprints as well its key technologies a year before couldn't be explained by ZAFT's investigation committee assigned to it. However, the ZAFT commander who was watching the two units approaching his ships was sure that whoever stole the plans certainly had the technological capabilities at par with ZAFT to be able to produce them.

Suddenly the whole ship shook as the bridge was plunged into darkness. "What the hell happened?" he shouted amidst groaning sounds.

"One of them managed to get close enough to launch and attack." someone said. "Looks like the main reactor compartment was hit, so the safety system is switching it off to prevent possible risk."

"You told me that the two just appeared!" the commander shouted at the CIC officer as the emergency power came to life.

"They are faster than our GOUFs and it seemed that they shot at our ship from out of the normal engagement envelope for mobile suits."

"Can we launch the warheads?"

"Captain," the one piloting the ship interrupted. "We're unable to maintain our vector. We have to use auxiliary power to leave the gravity pull."

In order to launch the missiles correctly, the ship had to maintain its present course for a while longer, something that it couldn't do at its current state. While it could launch the missiles from a position further from where it was, it would give ORB more time to react to them. "Damn! Tell the two ships to launch theirs."

One by one the nuclear missiles were launched from the two ships, their onboard computers programmed to guide them to obliterate ORB off the world map and from ZAFT list of threats. Because of their resoluteness in following their objective, they didn't react when several of their smaller but nimbler cousins chased after them. With more than three assigned to each missile, there was no escaping their premature destruction.

The ZAFT commander was simply speechless at the sight; no one could do anything when the two FALCONs moved in, emptied their missile racks' content at the nuclear missiles and retreated immediately. Finally sitting at his chair, he couldn't even fathom writing the report that would seek to explain the mission's rather spectacular failure.

* * *

The calm, breezy evening wind would have calmed her mind if not for the fact that it also carried the metallic stench of burnt oil, probably from an Astray wreckage that was visible from her spot. Cagalli pushed away some errant hairs from her face while sighing. 

The price to safeguard freedom was expensive indeed. As a Murasame flew above her, Cagalli couldn't help admiring its sleek look as well as the technology behind it.

It would be difficult for the country to recover; it was not impossible. She clenched her hand in a silent promise; ORB would heal and she would be there to steer it to the right path.

"You're here," Athrun's voice brought her out of her stupor.

Cagalli turned toward Athrun and gave a small smile before turning toward where she was looking. "Kisaka didn't allow me to participate in the rescue mission and assigned Shizuka to someone else… so here I am."

Athrun slowly walked to her side. "A lot had happened."

"Yeah." The wind blew again and she strangely felt nostalgic. "A lot. Beautiful girl, that Lunamaria."

He whirled toward her. "Listen, Cagalli…"

She silenced him by putting her right hand on his lips and smiled softly. "Don't say something that the three of us may regret." Her eyes became a bit glassy. "The paths the two us are travelling now are different." She removed her hand and looked at the ring Athrun gave her. "We were together once and I'm happy for the memories. It's… enough for me."

He nodded. "I'm sorry,"

She shook her head before turning back to where she was looking, thinking for a moment. "Don't be." The blonde girl could almost feel that someone was behind the two of them but didn't mention it to him. "To tell you honestly, I can't juggle my obligation and our relationship to this country; I was thinking about it all this while… I want to continue my father's dream to see ORB becoming a prosperous country… it's now my dream. In fact, I'm the one who should apologize because of me being selfish had made you uncomfortable." True, her other dream was to be with Athrun but she couldn't see it happening without her sacrificing her current one. It still hurt her to make the decision to break up with him but she knew that she would recover, for ORB's sake.

"Cagalli…"

She then slowly removed the ring and put it in his hand.

"We can still be friend can't we?"

He nodded.

Cagalli whirled around and extended her hand, smiling. "I'm Cagalli Yula Attha and I want to shoot you because I want to take your mobile suit."

Athrun shook her hand. "Athrun Zala. The guy that will kick your butt because you wanted to shoot me. Pleased to meet you." With the shake, the two had acknowledged that their previous relationship was over, hoping that the new one would be more lasting.

It was her who let go first. "All right, Athrun. See you around."

She walked away from him and toward the girl who was waiting nervously not far from the two of them. Putting a hand on the girl's shoulder, she whispered, "Take care of him. He's somewhat a chick magnet"

"I will," Lunamaria answered. "Maybe one day we can have tea and I'll share the story where I caught him with the Lacus-lookalike."

"Oh, really? I look forward to it. Oh, by the way, Lunamaria… don't let him cook Italian, his specialty."

"Huh, why?"

"Once you eat them, well… be prepared for a regime of agonizing diet."

* * *

Jacques looked at the paper in his hand with an amused look. "I would like to congratulate you, Santiago." 

"For what?" the said man asked with a puzzled look.

"For donating the…," Jacques squinted his eyes at the paper, "mansion located just 10 km outside Barcelona to be used as an orphanage."

Santiago swallowed hard. He didn't know how his recent acquisition could be discovered that easily. "Uh, thank you. I'm also planning to do some renovation as well as procure some furniture for the place." One thing for sure, he was very lucky to be issued with just a warning. It was a good thing that the money that was used to buy the mansion came from his own business rather than from shady activities.

"I look forward to seeing the children move there soon. By the way, I would like to tell everyone the content of this letter before we continue. Here, our ever friendly Colonel Ruben indicated that he's very interested to learn the secret to wealth. So, if anyone here got an unexplained windfall somewhere or opened up a multi-million account recently, do expect a warm invitation to visit his office. Hell, he even asked me about the titanium golf club I bought using my own money five years ago." Jacques said while chuckling.

Despite his words, everyone knew the truth that Colonel Ruben who headed the anti-graft taskforce was anything but friendly. To get an 'invitation' from him would mean that the person would be dragged off to an unknown location and be subjected to a very sadistic interrogation that would make police's questioning look like a friendly chatter.

"All right," Jacques said as his expression became more serious. "The battle in ORB had just been concluded, with a very favorable result."

"I hope so," Ivanov said. "We had to diverge some of our resources to support the country."

"Minerva is captured."

There were murmurs among those present.

"So what we will do with the ship?" a woman representative next to Jacques asked.

Jacques shrugged. "Well, Michelle, I propose we just hand it to Clyne."

"You must be joking!"

"No, I'm not. We only want it for one purpose, which is to demoralize ZAFT and we achieved that."

"To just give the highly sophisticated ship to someone else… it's unthinkable!"

"It is, if we remember that Minerva is suited for use by Coordinators. Sure, we can assemble a decent crew by reassigning those currently being stationed at other ships, but I really don't want to deal with their captains' whines and moans. Besides, Terminal is really helping us with some technical and logistic problems. Think of it as a payment for service rendered."

"That reminds me," Ivanov interrupted. "The units that attacked the ZAFT force in the orbits few hours ago, they're Terminal's?"

Jacques nodded. "Clyne showed me when I visited her. METEOR successors, she said. Now that the battle has ended, I have to ask the question 'what's now?'"

"How about LOGOS?" Santiago asked, having found his courage to participate in the discussion.

"Too quiet, and I hate that," the woman named Michelle answered.

"Our spy satellites picked up some activities on in dark region of the moon, but that's all we have," Ivanov said.

"Worrying indeed," Jacques said. "It's as if they're ignoring our force being amassed outside Britain."

"This war has become messed up, hasn't it?" Eric asked.

"Yes, but I have a feeling that it will end soon. And that leads us to the very important topic." he continued. "The Terminal attacked the ZAFT ships just as they were about to conduct nuclear strike at ORB."

"But I thought ZAFT doesn't have any." Santiago asked.

"It doesn't. They belong to our former ally that conveniently decided to park theirs in our country without our prior knowledge or consent," Ivanov said.

"Herein lay the problem. Nuclear weapons have long been the political tool rather than military's; a show of power as well as the final deterrence, if you will. But now we see North Atlantic, followed by ZAFT using them in such a cavalier manner." Jacques said.

"That begs the question why," someone added,

"Yes."

"Unless they have better weapons," Michelle suggested grimly.

"Mein Gott!" someone else exclaimed.

"While I'm not really that religious, I'm also disturbed by that possibility, which is why I would like to see this council to approve this: the use of our own nuclear weapons in case we need to make tactical strikes."

"But people would go against it, not when Berlin is still fresh in their mind." Eric objected.

"I know, and that's why I'm proposing sanctioning their use against tactical military targets only. Targets that are untouchable by mere conventional attacks."

"You really think ZAFT and LOGOS have their own WMDs, don't you?" Michelle asked.

"I _know_ they have such weapons. Now, we'll have a short recess to give us some time to think it over… I hope you consider the possibility that if ZAFT or LOGOS used their WMDs, we may not have the opportunity or time to discuss about this again."

The meeting reconvened after forty five minutes and when it came to making the decision, reluctantly one by one hand was raised in support of the proposal to allow tactical nuclear strikes.

"Well, ladies and gentlemen," Jacques said concluding the meeting, "Let's start praying to this god our German friend mentioned just now so that we wouldn't be forced to use them."

**

* * *

1 **

* * *

**Author's note (5 October 2007)**

1. It has been a while since the last update… around 20 days. Well, looking at the current situation, the story may continue on until early next year. It couldn't be helped, I suppose, the combination of work and communing cut through my time. Also, since my laptop was stolen recently, it's a bit difficult to type. A good portion of this chapter was typed on my 3.5" PDA.

2. The nuclear weapon question… it's always been debated from time to time. The way I see it, nuclear weapons are good for first strike and/or for deterrence. Tactical or strategic strike is a bit irrelevant since… let's say a nuclear missile was aimed at a military force gathering (tactical) but landed in the middle of a city. No matter of sugarcoating will change the fact that the weapon vaporized the civilians there and it has become a strategic strike. Also, in a fight between WMD-owning countries, who shoot first will gain battle advantage (and the subsequent moral disadvantage). Take for example a MRLS battery. Practically it's only good for single barrage. Once the missiles were shot, it's foolish to remain where it was as the enemy would certainly retaliate. And it also takes some time to fully reload. But the psychological shock effect on the enemy, apart from normal advantages, is better than normal artillery.


	55. The dawn of a bloody sky

Shinn look at the memorial with a soft look. He then looked heavenward when he felt his heart clenching at the unbidden memory of his family's demise during the first war, willing himself not to let even one drop of tears escape his eyes. He was supposed to be past that stage already. But yet, he couldn't stop the melancholic feeling from stabbing his heart. The memory of seeing the arm of his dead sister, whose body was destroyed beyond recognition, would stay with him for the rest of his life.

He has Uzumi Attha to thank for being a half dick decrepit old man he was.

It was the reason why he left the country in the first place as he couldn't stand being constantly reminded of his family's death. But there he was, back on the island, this time representing the very force that tried to conquer the country. Despite caught by surprise by Meyrin and Heine being alive and their story of how the escaped ZAFT's pursuit, they, along with Athrun and Meyrin were unable to convince him to join them. While their stories about Gilbert were a bit believable, they were without concrete proof. Conveniently enough, the only thing that could prove Gilbert's supposedly dastardly plan was a piece of flash memory chip ruined by seawater.

Between the resolute Gilbert and a bunch of irresolute pacifist wannabes who interfere all the time; it wasn't really hard for Shinn to decide whom to trust.

So, with him rejecting Athrun's offer for him to join them, Shinn found himself being nominated by Cherubim captain, whom Captain Talia seem to loath, to oversee Minerva's crew wellbeing. In short, he had become a welfare officer. That was an excuse for him to remain in ORB without being hunted by its military.

Strangely enough ZAFT seemed to condescend, ordering him to exercise caution and to report regularly. Shinn personally believed that he was expected to spy on ORB, but he couldn't really relay anything of any use to ZAFT. In fact, in one of the meetings with Minerva's crew, Talia explicitly asked him not to do so when she heard that he was given a tour by Kisaka around the island, telling him that it was a trap to get him to deliver false information.

He wasn't the one to think about strategies and tactics, so he was only too happy to follow orders. But that didn't leave him with much to do but sit around doing nothing. He looked at his watch. It was 5.00 p.m. and the time for him to finally return to ZAFT headquarters in Gibraltar to deliver the news about ORB's decision to put the captured ZAFT soldiers in detention camps until suitable time to repatriate them arrives. Shinn was about to walk to his mobile suit when he saw two people walking toward the memorial, one of them, being Athrun.

"You're still here, Shinn? Are you reconsidering our offer?"

"No." Shinn was about to snap at his former superior that he was a damn traitor but held his tongue. For all he know, Athrun might be on the right side. "I was about to return."

"I see." Athrun said disappointedly. Then his expression changed. "Now I remember, this is the first time the two of you have met in person. Kira, this is Shinn. Shinn, this is Kira."

"Pleased to meet you, Shinn" Kira said as he extended his hand.

"Call me Asuka," Shinn said, looking at the hand being offered as if it was the filthiest thing in the world. "And actually, this is the second time we met, at the same place some more." He glanced at the memorial once more. "Now that I think of it, it's pretty ironic since we meet at a place that's supposed to remind us of our lost loved ones."

"Shinn." Athrun whispered while prodding the young man to shake Kira's hand.

"I already gave my family name," Shinn replied with a neutral voice. "So what's the problem?"

"You know what I mean!"

"Shinn!"

"You're not my commander anymore, Athrun, so to heck with your orders." Fixing a dark look at Kira, he continued, "If you think I will shake hand with Stellar' murderer and everything will be all right and dandy, you must also believe in the existence of a purple dinosaur that dance and sing while make-believing that it was on a magical flying carpet."

"But you said…"

"Let me clarify something, Athrun. I wouldn't shoot him from the back or something, but don't ask me to like him."

"Shinn, I'd told you about the…"

"Yeah, I still remember the story that you told me about the two of you fighting it out, but don't compare my situation to yours," Shinn said, dismissing Athrun's words. "I didn't kill someone that he holds dear but he killed Stellar. Plus, Freedom was there around the area where my family was killed by an explosion during the last war, so even if he wasn't the one who killed them, it's a fact that he brought the battle to the place." Shinn was quite mad with what Athrun was trying to achieve by getting him and Kira to meet. It's not like the hurt and the wound the man inflicted could disappear just like that. Even he didn't expect Duel's pilot to ever forgive him for killing her father despite the regret he felt over the incident. Disgusted, he walked away without saying anything.

Before Athrun could say anything, Kira shook his head. "It is okay, Athrun. I understand and respect his feeling. I don't think I can shake Creuset's hand, even if he survived as he's the one who killed…" Kira stopped. The statement wasn't correct anymore. Fllay was still alive. But somehow, rather than make him happy, that fact made his heart constrict.

"Yamato…"

Athrun and the said man turned toward Shinn who stopped in midstride.

"I'll get you again next time."

* * *

"Fancy seeing you coming here at around 1 a.m., Fllay." Terrence said without looking up from his console in front of Fallen. 

The said girl walked, her footsteps echoed throughout the mobile suit's hangar. "That statement is supposed to apply to you, seeing that you're the one who seldom come here beyond office hours."

"It's not often that my beloved got trashed by my other one. Needs lot of repairs, you know. At the same time, we've secretly scanned Destiny when it landed on Minerva. I'm currently running some analysis on its abilities, but I think it wouldn't be too useful as it shares the same design philosophy with Infinite Justice and Strike Freedom."

"Philosophy?"

"Loading up all kinds of weaponries including kitchen sink; I think doing this will hurt the mobility. Well, good for us because that means it will be easier to defeat them."

"Glad to hear that," Fllay said absently as she went to the simulator booth. 

The real reason which was to help himself forget about his friend's death went unsaid.

"So, what about your excuse?"

"I have to practice, you know. These recent fights have showed me how much I'm lagging against other pilots."

Terrence stopped his work and gave her a look. Ever since they got her from that damned facility, she constantly pushed herself in order to keep up with Coordinator pilots, going through simulations over and over. When asked not to overexert herself, the girl always maintained that her fighting abilities weren't handed on a silver platter and she must keep training. This began to change, to Terrence and other Cherubim members' relief when she returned from ORB. Fllay had toned down on her night activity and getting some needed rest for a change. But to see her returning back to her old habit…

"Can you stop starring at my back?" Fllay said as she switched on her simulator.

The mobile suit genius blinked in surprise before remembering that she had extra spatial awareness, which was the reason why she was a suitable candidate to pilot Fallen which was supposed to be armed with DRAGOONs in the first place. "Oh, I'm sorry but I'm appreciating your beauty as usual."

"Your harassment is something that I can do without."

"Ouch." He watched her go through the simulation and then asked again. "What is it this time?"

"I don't understand what you're talking about."

He shrugged. "I don't know either. But the fact that you almost missed the fourth Windam just now should cause everyone else to notice as well since you never missed it. I should know, since I keep losing that bet with Nash," he stopped for a moment, "not that he could collect his winnings anymore. I'm just rambling but the Fallen's black box showed that there seem to be some kind of change in its pilot's prevalent mental state. Readings that I got few months ago indicated that the pilot's endocrine system released very high amount of cortisol, andrenaline, norepinephrine during various dog fights."

"In English, please"

"At the cost of heightened senses and reflex, the pilot's APEX caused the pilot to be stressed out. Add that with the neural overclocker, it's a wonder she didn't go crazy until that fight in Berlin. But what strange is that since the pilot returned from ORB that day, the battle data showed that all those stress weren't there; ignoring the normal levels of course."

"That seems like a good news for the pilot."

"If only she doesn't suffer from lack of sleep. Even have a medic in Greenland suggesting that she be given sleeping aid, though Dorothy don't think it's a good idea to have her juiced up on such poisons." Terrence waited for a moment to see if she would make a comment; when she didn't he turned back toward his console. "Well, she's a big girl, so I hope she takes care of herself from time to time."

Fllay stopped in the midst of the simulation, letting her digital mobile suit got trounced. "I almost engaged Plume de Lune's OT mode in the last fight."

"Why?" the Fallen's designer asked in a serious manner. "You know very well that it wouldn't work effectively on Earth. It goes against aerodynamic physics. Mobile suits are very flexible machines but even they have their limits."

"I know… you told me about that numerous times."

"Then you must have remembered that if you do that, I wouldn't forgive you." Terrence said with a quiet anger. "You crashed Fallen in Berlin, you screwed up its Plume de Lune, which is by the way a nightmare to repair, I don't care. But you don't ever do that!" He calmed himself. "I don't care even it's Yamato the Ultimate Coordinator who pilot it as even he could not possibly control it."

"You put it there..." Fllay tried to protest but was cut off.

"Yes, I put it there, but I put it there for a reason and the reason doesn't necessarily have anything to do with you, you got me?" he asked while glaring at her.

"Sorry," She stopped for a moment, "but at that time, I was scared."

His stare softened. "Of what?"

"The ZAFT mobile suit Legend, it resembled Providence."

"It is supposed to, since they shared similar aspects."

"Furthermore, when I fight it, I felt as if it was my killer who was piloting it."

"Your killer? You mean to tell me that you fought off with the one who killed you?"

"Not really. When I… died… in the first war, it was during the second Jachin Due battle. My escape shuttle was destroyed by a DRAGOON belonging to Providence."

Anger forgotten, Terrence asked, "You're saying that Creuset killed you?"

Fllay nodded.

"But I thought you said that you worked for him."

"Yes. He used me to get the N-Jammer Canceller schematics to Azrael. Then he used me again for another purpose… he did it by killing me." She chuckled darkly. "Indirectly, I helped make the war worse."

"It doesn't really matter, you know, since I think he would have gotten it one way or another. But you're going off the topic."

"Even from the day one I was brought back, I had this dream. A faceless person was trying to evade the DRAGOON units that were attacking him. The dream always seems real, with every detail so clear… except for the person."

"So that's why you're always going through the simulation?"

"I can't sleep. As the time goes by, I finally accepted the fact that I was watching my death over and over again, you know, as part of my penance."

"Fllay…" Fllay was not the kind of people to tell others about herself unless it was necessary. When he made the comment about her sleeping late, he didn't expect her to reply to it since she normally ignored the question. He could understand how she was feeling at having to see the sight again and again. "It must have been very scary, watching yourself die again and again while being unable to do anything."

"It was, in the beginning. But as it continued on, I found myself realizing that it is all right for me to be experiencing it," she said with a soft melancholic smile. "It reminds me of who I was and who I'll never be because of that."

He didn't know what to say to comfort her.

"But I was wrong," she said, surprising him.

"Wrong?" he asked, confused. "Ah, I know. Of course you're wrong, since you shouldn't think yourself in a derogatory…"

"No, that still holds true. The dream is what's wrong."

"Huh?"

"That's what makes me scared. Recently, the figure in the dream becomes clearer… "

Fllay hung her head.

"It wasn't me."

* * *

"Would you care for a cup a tea?" 

Mark looked at the steaming cup being offered at him and was about to say something when the ground shook as an artillery barrage landed not very far from their camp.

"A dash of peppermint to lighten up your day, sir," the man who offered the tea said, as if nothing happened.

"Look, Colonel Brown, we're in the middle of a goddamned freaking war and you're offering me a cup of tea?" Mark intoned though he did take the cup from the colonel.

"The supply of pure coffee is hard to come by, though we do have the coffee some of our blokes from France are drinking. I suppose you don't care about it."

"You bet I don't. I'm not from New Orleans or somewhere there, so I don't care for coffee that has chicory added." There was a loud thundering sound in the distance and Mark found himself tensing up a bit.

"Don't worry about that, sir. It's a bit disorienting at first, but you'll get used to it."

"I'm more worried about myself, a naval officer leading a ground thrust."

Colonel Brown shrugged. "It isn't much different than the one in Greenland, really. Of course, the difference is that we're not in your submarine; instead of being crushed by the water pressure, we only have to worry about some random enemy dropping bombs on us."

Mark didn't really get his second-in-command's dry humor. Silently he wished for Nadia to be there instead. "So, how's the situation?"

Pointing at the map, the colonel said, "We're currently engaging the Second and Fifth brigades thirty kilometers southwest and the Eleventh forty kilometers south of Greater London. They're pretty entrenched, so the progress is pretty slow."

The admiral noted that the map was just a sheet plastic, instead of being electronic display, to allow for rough handling. "Do we still have artillery support?"

"Only the MRLSes."

It is to be expected, since he remembered being roused from his slumber few hours before by the news that their artillery regiments got destroyed. Somehow, LOGOS had caught wind of their movements and had sent Windams to attack them. While the anti-air batteries as well as the Confederation's own mobile suits ensured that most of them wouldn't return home, the Windams had accomplished their mission, thus hampering artillery support for Confederation's troop moving toward London. "So that means we have only fire one barrage and that's it."

"That is correct, sir."

Although the MRLSes were quite versatile in their choice of warheads and the ability to strike at a greater distance compared to their howitzer counterparts, they too have their weakness. Like normal artillery, once they had fired, the launchers have to be relocated as the opposition would certainly strike back at their location. But rearming them would take a lot of time, since doing so requires special loading cranes.

Mark pointed at a spot between the Second and the Fifth brigade. "Fire the artillery at this spot. At the same time, tell our forces to intensify their respective attacks."

"Understood."

Using artillery to fire at an occupied spot could be considered as a poor decision, but Mark hoped that their enemy could be fooled into thinking that his own force would try to spearhead the attack through that point. Thus, they would reinforce that point, thinning their numbers elsewhere.

"But instead, we'll overrun the Second's fortification." He thought for a moment. "Get two MS to help with the MRLS reloading. Since they have fingers, they can hold the rockets securely."

Colonel Brown stared at him as if he had grown another head.

"What?" he growled before drinking his tea.

"That's a marvelous idea, sir! It would certainly cut down the time to reload the launchers! I can see why they want to send you to space."

The comment made Mark spurt his tea, hitting the map that he was examining.

"Great shot, sir."

Ignoring the comment, he asked. "What do you mean send me to space?"

"I heard some of our blokes talking about it over tea yesterday. You'll receive the order soon."

"Great. My men received the news earlier than me. Any reason why, if you know about it as well?"

"After this, we're expecting heavy battle in space, probably with ZAFT. Thus, they want you to get used to the whole environment."

"Don't they have someone up there that's better than me? That Kalashnikov, for example."

"I think you're referring to Barzhakov. He and his ship are in ORB right now though probably not for long. I heard that they're dropping the boosters for his ship as well. Higher ups are pretty anxious for the two of you to go up there, it seems."

"Yeah, I guess." With England almost falling at the hand of Confederation army and ZAFT's defeat, something big is bound to happen. And it was a good guess as any that it will take place in space. "Nice tea, by the way. I can grow to like this."

"We'll make a better man out of you, sir."

* * *

As the makeup expert artist put her finishing touch on his face, Gilbert went through the text in front of him. While he didn't mind appearing on live broadcast to deliver speeches, at that time he really wasn't in the mood to give one. The loss ZAFT suffered at the hand of the ORB defenders angered him, especially when he learned that even Minerva was captured. It was the first time that the normally unflappable politician lost his temper and shouted at the unfortunate officers around him when the report was delivered. 

After he had calmed down, with great difficulty, he went through the report and was chagrined to learn that somehow, both Infinite Justice and the new Freedom had survived and had helped ORB. Sadly, he noted to himself, his prediction was correct all along: Athrun Zala was traitorous to the very core and he should have gotten rid of him even sooner. But he still couldn't understand how Minerva got captured. Talia must have gotten very soft and lax to let such thing happen.

The only news that improved his mood was regarding LOGOS suffering a very big setback as well; London had finally capitulated under Confederation attack.

"Mr. Chairman, we're ready to go in three minutes," the producer said to him.

"Thank you," he said while smiling at the man. Three more minutes and he would be on air in an effort to minimize the blow to the ZAFT's image while at the same time attack ORB's. "Have all the preparations that I asked for have been completed?"

"Yes, Mr. Chairman."

"Good," he said as he went to the podium. At the designated time for the broadcast, he began his speech, reciting from his memory. "Ladies and gentlemen, my honored brothers and sisters that yearns for peace; as all of you know, few weeks ago, the coalition of peace had, in its never-ending quest to ensure that the world would be there for our future generations, asked for the wayward ORB to hand over the terrorists that it harbors in its country." He purposely paused to give a sense of suspense to his speech. "Even as our diplomats work over time to secure a peaceful solution with their ORB's counterparts, unfortunately the country's leadership declined any kind of cooperation toward it."

The teleprompter showed a 'Stop' sign, telling him that the broadcaster was about to insert a video clip.

"I WILL NEVER AGREE TO SUCH AN ABSURD REQUEST, EVEN FOR THE SO-CALLED PEACE!" Cagalli said, her face was full of anger.

"The representative of ORB said that is absurd," he continued gravely. "I would like to implore all of you to think, since when an effort to preserve peace can be considered as absurd?"

Gilbert purposely neglected the fact that if the video clip had continued on for a few more seconds, it would have shown that Cagalli saying that the proposal given to ORB was intended to subjugate the country and not to ensure peace. The video clip would also show that ORB's counter proposal to have the suspects be put trial on an independent tribunal. Of course, there would be some who will remember about them, since Cagalli's speech was broadcasted all over the world, but Gilbert wasn't worried. After all, human beings would pay attention to negative things more than positive ones; it was in their nature. Thus, by replaying the clip, he would be able to instigate the world's hatred against the nation. While ORB was an island, it was, by any means an isolated one and had to depend on international trade.

"After every diplomatic channel was exhausted, reluctantly we launched a small punitive action to secure the custody of the said terrorists. As all of you know, these are the people responsible for killing innocent civilians in cold blood."

Even though he was a geneticist by training, Gilbert was also well versed in the art of mass psychology. The Scenes of Berlin as well as other LOGOS-led massacres were displayed, including one where a refugee camp being attacked by its mobile suits, in order to incite viewers' anger toward LOGOS, which then can be directed toward ORB by putting in a very brief footage of ORB's military attacking Minerva in the battle of Crete.

These were followed by clips showing the sorry state of LOGOS's victims. But they weren't enough, so Gilbert ordered for a short footage to be produced. In it, a dirty looking girl with a torn teddy bear in her clutches was crying around before a ZAFT soldier went and consoled her. The act was staged to imprint on the viewers' mind that ZAFT wasn't the enemy but rather a friendly force. Unlike Djibril who did the job half-assed, the ZAFT chairman was meticulous in his preparation. Nothing was spared and every possibility was examined.

"But unfortunately, our efforts were hampered when the country was assisted by terrorists,"

A clip of Strike Freedom was shown shooting down a GOUF followed by another random clip where a Slaughter Dagger was killing some ZAFT soldiers who were taken prisoners.

"The sad thing about this is the fact that the pilot of this mobile suit was a friend of Lady Lacus."

Gilbert was a bit put off that Meer couldn't be found but wouldn't let that stop his plan.

"Even as I speak, she is being distraught over the revelation that one of her closest friends could stoop to this deplorable level."

He sighed as images of Lacus, along with Meer in her disguises, flashed on the screen behind her.

"Lady Lacus abhors war, which is why she is very reluctant to say this: we must unite to destroy LOGOS and its supporters. That's why the terrorists in ORB…"

"I WOULD LIKE TO DENY THAT AS UNTRUE," an unexpected voice interrupted.

Even though his face was impassive, the ZAFT Chairman unconsciously clenched his hands.

"I DIDN'T SAY THAT, NOT EVEN ONCE."

He didn't expect Meer to appear on another broadcast, opposing him. But rather than express shock, he kept quiet, baiting her to keep talking.

"WE CAN NEVER WIN IF WE WAGE A WAR TO END A WAR, MR. CHAIRMAN." Meer said in somewhat a pleading manner.

"It is not," Gilbert said. "It is a war for the sake of peace, just like you said earlier." No one but Meer and other people who were privy into her secret would detect the hidden message beneath Gilbert's speech: I don't know what you're thinking when you appear on the television to oppose me but if you don't back down then you're going to regret it.

"BUT EVEN IF WE WIN THE WAR, WE WILL WIN IT BY OPPRESSING OTHER PEOPLE, NOT BY MAKING PEACE WITH THEM. THE PEACE THAT WE WILL HAVE WILL BE FRAGILE AT BEST."

"That is why we have to fight those who don't want peace and only seek to profit through never ending wars and seeking absolute power."

"WE ARE GOING ALONG THE SAME PATH."

Gilbert shook his head. "I'm afraid what they warned me is right. Even I was tricked by your deception, impostor."

Meer's expression was one of pure shock at the betrayal as she didn't expect him to disavow her.

"This is the first time I meet you face to face. I've read reports that Djibril had hired someone to impersonate Lady Lacus in order to influence everyone but I refused to believe it." He let out a long breath as if in regret. "Looks like they are right, Lady Lac… no, that's no right… Meer Campbell, is it?"

The girl eyes couldn't be any wider.

He found it a bit difficult not to break into a smile at her reaction. The girl was just a puppet after all, despite whoever she was serving at that time. If he couldn't use her anymore then it would better to just discredit her. "Despite your likeness, you couldn't compare to the real Lady Lacus. Unlike you who support the terrorists, she is a person of peace, a beacon of hope to everybody on PLANTs… and now on Earth."

Meer didn't even reply.

"Before you even pretend to be her, miss impersonator, let me ask you a question? Can you really compare to Lady Lacus who was there at the beginning of the war to comfort everyone with her voice?"

"OF COURSE NOT." another feminine voice interrupted. "BECAUSE IT WASN'T ME, LACUS CLYNE, WHO WAS THERE FOR EVERYONE; IT WAS HER. AND IT WAS MEER CAMPBELL'S VOICE THAT HAD HELPED TO COMFORT EVERYONE."

The Chairman could feel his blood draining from his face as he stared at the face of one Lacus Clyne.

While Lacus continued with her speech, for the very first time in his life, Gilbert Dullindal couldn't think of any plan to deal with the current situation.

* * *

**1**

* * *

**Author note (5th November 2007)**

1. Surprise to anyone who didn't see the part about Lacus coming.

2. It has been a while since I last updated. Good thing now I have a new laptop which somewhat helped to combat writer laziness.

3. No, I didn't intend Shinn to join in the first place. I don't think he's that kind who forgives rather easily. I myself would be hard pressed to forgive Kira if I'm in his place.

4. I've seen Gundam 00 and it's a bit interesting because of these facts:

a) It is named '00'. Cagalli's MS in this story also have the same designation.

b) The Gundams uses what I believe to be normal electrical propulsion. This somehow confirms my personal opinion that electrical propulsion is more superior than solar sail (by extension, Voiture Luminaire and Wings of Lights) when it comes to propelling mass at a higher speed in a short duration. Solar sail isn't really good for manned vehicle propulsion because it is very slow. But it is good for for use in an unmanned probe as it uses photons from light originating from the sun (or other sources) to propel them. Fallen, although I don't really describe it in the story, uses electrical propulsion with Xenon gas as propellant; Gundams in '00' uses GN particles.

c) The Human Reformation League's MS pilot helmet also has integrated display on it. I really like the integrated display idea. Although it's not as cool as having a panoramic screen, it can help to reduce save some space in the cockpit.

5. Gundam '00' looks interesting, as it offers a realistic but conflicting philosophy to unite the world.

6. The Flag, although ugly when transformed, looks really cool. Hell, it's even more menacing than the Gundams.


	56. The coming of Chaos

"Where's Fllay?"

Terrence had expected someone to ask the question when he entered the room. He hadn't seen her for a while as he was busy with Razak and others replacing Fallen's onboard computer with a quantum control system similar to those installed on Strike Freedom and Legend. Because of the time taken to finish the project, Terrence had a mild case of insomnia, not sleeping for almost forty hours. But when he did go to sleep, it felt heaven-sent and he only woke up twelve hours later, took his bath and came to the dining room.

"I don't know. Maybe she'll grab something to eat later," he continued as he took a seat. While the conversation that he had with the Fallen's pilot disturbed him very much, he decided to keep mum about it for the time being. He looked at the items in front of him, slowly picked one of them and then gave a look to everyone else around the table. "Silverware? Here on this ship?" While twirling the item, he then turned his gaze on the spread in front of him. "Finger bowls, stainless steel knives, napkins... am I on the right ship?"

"I myself find it surprising when I came here just now," Barzhakov said, his attention was fixed on the big screen to his right. "It is even more surprising than the appearance of two Lacuses"

The Fallen creator looked at the screen as well. "Yeah, certainly more surprising than Gilbert sweating bullets."

While it was an exaggeration, a careful observer who knew the ZAFT chairman personally might have noticed that the man was actually panicking, something people would not expect from him. Terrence should know, as he had served under the man while working on Fallen development program. That was why he could distinguish clearly the subtle movement of face muscles that indicated the man was agitated; others would have thought that Gilbert was merely thinking.

To able to make Gilbert man act that way, the tactic was a scary one.

Truth be told, such maneuver he associated with someone like Gilbert or even to a certain degree, Djibril; not someone he had pegged as kind, albeit at times a bit spineless. Nevertheless, Lacus Clyne had shown off her sharp and calculating mind and Terrence could find himself appreciating the plan's ingenuity as well as its complexity.

When he heard about the plan to kidnap 'Lacus', his first thought was that it was Barzhakov or that French whatisname's plan to blackmail Gilbert. Hence, he was against the idea a bit. To make the matter worse the plan didn't go as smoothly as hoped as the fake Lacus' guards managed to catch up with the kidnapping team and a gunfire exchange ensued. They had to sacrifice three people who stayed behind to ensure that the rest got away with their hostage.

In retrospect, the sacrifices, while not less important, was a small cost for a chance to end the war. While the effect weren't obvious, the seeds of doubts have been planted in PLANTs, setting the stage for a gradual decline of Gilbert's influence as his deceit was exposed to the whole world. However, the question that begged to be asked was that whether it would be fast enough to match LOGOS's loss of power.

"But it seems that Clyne is damaging her own image a bit by doing this. I wonder why," Thames, the ship's helmswoman commented while wiping a knife with a napkin.

Terrence looked at her as realization hit him. He didn't think about it before she mentioned it. What would she want to achieve by doing that…

"Normalizing her… no… that's not very correct… normalizing everyone's of political influence on PLANTs." Barzhakov said as he absently searched his breast pocket for the pipe that wasn't there.

"What do you mean?" Enishi asked.

"Simple, really. I think she wanted to erode PLANTs' current political hierarchy and what better way to do that than by starting with herself. Leadership through example, if you will"

Terrence understood completely what the other man meant. Lacus wanted to reduce the power and influence being held by the so-called 'royal families'. Although a bit different than the ORB's nobles, the two were similar in the sense they're the real power behind their respective governments. They would be the ones who will have the final say on who will be elected on the council or how the budget would really be allocated after it was passed by the Council.

If PLANTs were really democratic as claimed, Patrick Zala wouldn't have been able to order for the construction of GENESIS, not without the council as well as the whole PLANTs knowing. The construction of such large scale super weapon would require a huge budget that it would have been cheaper to simply build and maintain five hundred nuclear missiles that have similar explosive power to the one used on Junius Seven. But yet details on the weapon were only leaked to the public after the war had ended. While every person on PLANTs was quick to heap scorn and blames on Patrick except for a small majority who supported him, no one questioned the system that allowed such madman to come to power and implement his mad design.

"Apart from that," Barzhakov went on, "she had realized her 'Coordinating Myopia'."

"'Coordinating Myopia'?" Dorothy, which had remained silent all the while, finally broke her silent.

"That's the term what I learned at the Eurasian's Spec Ops Officer Indoctrination school, along with its opposing counterpart, 'Naturalised Farsightedness'. The term 'Coordinating Myopia' is given to the tendency to believe that Coordinators can do all things all the time. Superiority complex if you will. But the real truth is that they're just like a computer with a multiple CPUs, right Terrence?"

Terrence was shocked he could have missed such a profound observation. "That's right. Even though the logic gate systems can be and have been devised to execute multiple instructions in parallel, there would be some part where the parallel executions will have converge into a serial processing unit."

"In Russian, that means even Coordinators couldn't do all things simultaneously." Barzhakov offered. "Lacus can sing, and she has the necessary qualification to lead. However, she couldn't do both, not if she wants to do it seriously. A real political leader has to invest his or her time to really reach to the people _as well _fight for them. Each one needs time. Do you really think that all people at PLANTs would just be satisfied listening to her albums and then follow her leadership just like that?"

"Well…," Wilhelm began.

"Terrence isn't normal."

"What the hell with that statement, old man?" Terrence growled. Deep in his heart tough, he agreed wholeheartedly with Barzhakov's comment. He didn't care about the argument that Coordinators, SEEDS as well as APEX holders were superior human beings. True enough, they were better than Naturals in certain aspects, but not all aspects. In some cases, they were at disadvantage. For example, all biologists were raving about the fact that Coordinators had superior metabolism rate; no one really comment about Coordinators needing more food and water than Naturals to support that so-called superior metabolism rate. That wasn't really a concern for normal situations but in war, it had created a lot of provisioning problems that even the best ZAFT commanders found hard pressed to solve.

"How about that clone of hers?" Dorothy interjected. "She seems to be okay doing both."

"Not really. She's playing the pacifist part and Gilbert's the politician," Terrence said while trying to understand fully the implication of Lacus' strategic ploy. The move should give the Confederation and factions sympathetic to Terminal to consolidate their power.

"Don't think that with Clyne's power play we can stop and rest," Barzhakov said suddenly, as if knowing what he was thinking. "In fact, with her announcement, the clock started ticking."

"I don't understand," Enishi said.

"Simple. If it's really okay for us to lie down and relax, then Jacques already would have another job lined up for us, probably helping with the West Atlantic campaign. But as it is, we're to go back to space. Do you know why? Her statement will pressure both ZAFT and LOGOS to act soon."

"Why?" Wilhelm asked.

"I'll tell you, Wilhelm," Terrence said. "If ZAFT, er, Gilbert stalls for time, well… he's bound to be removed. As for Djibril, the longer he waits, the less shipments from Earth that will arrive at his hideout on the dark side of the moon." The Confederation's campaign had forced the North Atlantic Federation to focus a lot of their resources on Earth instead of space. Apart from that, the Confederation also employed mercenaries like Serpent's Tail to raid convoys bound to Arzachel and Deadalus.

"Why now and not later?" Thames asked.

"She has to do it now, the pressuring I mean. If she didn't, maybe Gilbert would be able to defeat Djibril and once that happens… he would be too powerful to topple. Far from ending the war, we may end up prolonging it as ZAFT would certainly turn its attention to Confederation and Terminal." Barzhakov said while looking at attendants carrying some trays toward their table when he noticed a mild stare aimed at him. "Oh, I forgot. ORB too. ZAFT will also focus a lot of their attention to ORB as well."

Enishi merely sighed at the sarcastic remark.

Terrence was watching the television again when he saw the news ticker regarding a firefight between the Confederation and Atlantic Federation in Scotland. "Hey, what about London? What's the current news?"

"We have yet to occupy it." Thames answered.

"There's no need," the Cherubim's captain said.

Terrence thought about the man's answer for a moment. "Knowing your way of thinking, it's 'Gé àn guān huǒ', right?"

"Right. Since you know about it, why don't you explain to everyone else?"

"The meaning of the Chinese words is 'watch the fires burning across the river'. In short, do nothing and watch the enemy fall into disarray and chaos. Right now we've basically cornered the LOGOS remnants in the area and predictably, they have retreated into suburbs of London. If we enter the city, not only we'll be endangering the civilians, we'll also be caught in a long-winded guerilla war."

"How about the city? What should we do about it?" Wilhelm questioned.

"Nothing. London is just one of the administrative cities of Atlantic Federation; there's no military base or factory whatsoever there. There are only LOGOS insurgents armed with small arms. So there's no urgency in taking the city. The insurgents know that, as well as the fact that we control the supplies inbound for the city. So, we can stall for time while negotiating for their surrender, and thus conserve our soldiers."

"That doesn't sound like a humane thing to do, since we'll be using the population," Enishi interjected.

Barzhakov shrugged. "There is no such thing as a 'humane war', Enishi," he said, feeling that there was no need for him to explain the real reasoning behind the strategy. While it wasn't wrong that the move was conserve the Confederation's forces, he could see from a report that it was more of a psychological thing. The Confederation had already began to move its engineering corps to other cities nearby for reconstruction; repair was more appropriate term to use since most of them only suffered minor damages. By allowing whoever was in charge of the cities to continue their work as long as they were not convicted as LOGOS members, the Confederation aimed to show to the besieged London as well as the rest of the world that it can play the role of a 'good faction', something that ZAFT had succeeded to do, but would be squandered by Clyne's present tactic. He continued, "After all, like what Terrence pointed out just now, can we go galloping into the city of millions of people and hoped miraculously everyone will be spared?"

"And I think LOGOS would be hesitant to do anything to the population as well, since they're already have that 'big ugly shit' stain on their name," Thames remarked.

"Still…" Enishi tried to protest.

"Tell me when it's your birthday. I'll get you a baton," the Cherubim helmswoman said.

"What for?"

"To replace that stick up your ass. It's too small"

It was fortunate that the food had started being served, hence stopping the inevitable argument from breaking out. Despite the different ideologies, religions or beliefs that everyone who was gathered around the table professed, there's one tenet that they, along with the rest of Cherubim crew, adhered to. Never bring up anything negative during meal time. There were no guarantee that Thames and Enishi wouldn't get into a fight later on, but at that present moment, they held their peace.

As a covered plate was placed in front of him, Terrence eyed it. "By the way, who's cooking today?"

"Not Helga I hope." Dorothy said.

"Oh, she's onboard Minerva. Since we're putting the crew under arrest, someone has to be there to cook." Wilhelm answered.

Thames gave a scathing look at Barzhakov. "You're against the 'Pirates of the Pacific' photo shoot, saying that it is against their human rights and now you're letting her feed them?"

"Either that or we send the ORB chef there and let her cook for us."

"I really admire your infinite wisdom." Thames said quickly.

"My thought exactly though she also has her good points. For example, the whole dinner setup was suggested by her. Now, let's concentrate on the food."

With that, Terrence decided to put aside a matter that has been making him worry a little bit. Besides parts to assemble the space boosters for Cherubim, the Confederation had been dropping some other things as well. The things weren't exactly Christmas gifts, unless one counted being turned into crispy dust while simultaneously being sterilized by large doses of gamma and x-ray when one of them explodes as a present.

Maybe later, when he could talk with Barzhakov in private would he ask the reason why Cherubim being armed with _those _missiles once more. Later, after he had finished his dinner.

"I really can't wait to use my neglected fine dining skills. I wonder whether we're having filet mignon," Barzhakov said as he raised the dish cover a bit and suddenly became silent while a frown appeared.

Terrence was puzzled by the captain's reaction and opened up his.

Served on his exquisite china plate were burger and fries.

* * *

In her darkened room, once again Fllay Allster was snatched from her peaceful slumber by yet another nightmare. As she gasped for breath, body drenched in sweats, she tried to calm herself so that she could dwell on what she saw in the dream. But she really didn't need to do that as she already knew what she saw.

There was no mistaking that it was Kira that fought against those DRAGOONs in her dreams. She didn't even dare to recall the recurring conclusion of them.

She had no doubt that Kira was probably the best pilot there ever was but the dreams kept repeating and repeating that she knew that somehow it was a sign; therefore she should warn him. She would go to Archangel and meet Kira to tell him about the dream in the hope that he would careful.

Fllay stopped herself.

Then she realized that wasn't the real reason. Even if she didn't have those nightmares, she would still search for him because she missed him very much.

* * *

Djibril paced around in his room in an agitated manner. Although he was happy that the ever righteous but pretentious Dullindal got put in his place, by his own pink haired whore no less, that alone didn't make the situation any better. Not since he found out about Copland had started talking to those European swines. It was a mistake to put that oaf in the office after all. The man was supposed to heed his beck and call and kill all Coordinators as well as other villains that threaten the pure and blue world, not colluding with the enemy themselves.

"Tell me about what that…_man…_is discussing," he said suddenly.

A man who had remained inconspicuous until he was addressed by the LOGOS leader nodded and stepped in front, revealing that he was the general in charge of the Daedalus. "Copland is trying to get the Confederation to sign a peace treaty and end all hostilities."

"How did those swines and the traitors who side with them react to the proposal?"

"While the two parties have yet to reach a mutual understanding, our intelligence suggests that they're reacting favorably."

"Oh, and how can we be sure? Did they snort or squeal happily while eating from their filthy trough?" Djibril sneered. "What about the area that they have captured from us?"

"There's no mention about them."

"That's very good. Maybe Copland would like to offer the rest of the country gift wrapped." He spat disgustedly on the floor, not caring that it was cashmere. "Here I am, worrying about those Coordinator scums trying to take over Earth while he practically gives away North Atlantic. To think that I helped that weak and whimsical idiot secure a seat at the White House."

"That he did sir."

The LOGOS dictator kept frowning. He needed to destroy both ZAFT and the Eurasians. He wasn't worried about ORB at all since despite its technological edge, the country was minor inconvenience. Unlike Gilbert who needed to appease his public before launching the attack, Djibril could easily cripple the country. All he needed to do was to place multiple underwater nuclear devices just outside of ORB's territorial water. Once detonated, even the three stooges consisting of that infernal Archangel, Freedom and Justice couldn't do anything to stop the resulting tidal wave from wiping the stupid country wannabe off the map. Because of that, although it annoyed him a bit, Djibril would let the Attha slut continue on living in the illusion that her country was so great because it could defeat the space freaks until the right time came for him to take care of it.

He had to admit he didn't know what made him think the possibility of firing Requiem at ORB; it would have been a waste of precious energy.

"I'll deal with him later." Djibril. "Anything else that I should know of?"

"Reports from Arzachel stated there was an increase in skirmishes between our force and ZAFT's."

"Hah! I never thought that Gilbert would try something as petty as this to redirect everyone' attention away from what they should have realized earlier on: he's a snake not fit to lead and only LOGOS would be able protect our pure and blue world. He's getting desperate. Perhaps we will be seeing a gambit by him soon."

Strangely, for someone who was well known for being impetuous and not as a strategist, Djibril's guess wasn't far off. Gilbert, alone in his room with a shot of whisky by his table was contemplating the next move he should take. Being contradicted by the same person whom he claimed as one of his supporters in front of millions of people was a troublesome problem after all. He had tried to make a comeback, trying to argue against her. It didn't work as Lacus had timed her appearance to be psychologically damaging. He couldn't accuse her of being another impersonator as Lacus would certainly have proof of her identity. In the end, Gilbert decided to terminate his own broadcast, lest he made a mistake that would cost him; his propaganda officer had already spreading rumors that Lacus sabotaged the transmission to ensure that he couldn't answer her accusation. Sadly he still had to deal with the consequences. Few but nevertheless significant PLANT's Council members had already talked about a possible inquiry regarding the whole fiasco. It couldn't be avoided since they were assured that Lacus was behind him all the way. Thus, what Lacus did was a glaring contrast with that promise.

Predictably they want to know why she had changed her mind and went against him. They didn't know that she wasn't with him in the very beginning. No one outside Gilbert's and Lacus' own circle did. Even her broadcast didn't say anything about her not working with him all those while. Oh, he knew that she wanted to, desperately wanted to say the denials. Unfortunately she couldn't, not unless she was willing to see PLANTs falling into total chaos.

His plan of using her was designed in a way that she couldn't really expose him not without totally dismantling PLANTs administrative hierarchy. That gave him some time to maneuver and thought of a way out of his current problem.

A sudden idea came to him, one that might work but even thinking about it left a bitter taste in his mouth. Propose a peace treaty to everyone, LOGOS included. Unlike the Junius Seven treaty which was a sham even before the ink on the agreement dried, the new treaty would work because of a new development: LOGOS had been weakened enough that it would never have the conventional firepower to threaten PLANTs or execute land grabs on Earth. Sadly, it was the same thing regarding ZAFT's influence. With its current strength, Gilbert was sure that the chances of him implementing Destiny plan successfully was close to zero as ZAFT would be in no position to repel any opposition to it.

A beeper sounded and Gilbert pressed the button to switch on the communication system.

"Good evening," the youngest and probably the last of Al Da Flaga's clone greeted.

"Good evening. I trust you have good news for me?" Whenever Rey contacted him, it's normally to deliver good news. He can bank on that fact.

"Yes. The optimization of the data collected went smoothly."

For the very first time in few days ever since Lacus humiliated him on the television, Gilbert smiled. "That's good. Anything I should know off?"

"You're right in your prediction regarding Strike Freedom. Its average performance score is estimated to be two percent more than Destiny."

"I can't believe Terminal could execute something like this." Two percent may not seem much, but in combat it may determine whether a particular mobile suit could evade a beam or whether it counterattack; pilot skill notwithstanding. "Terrence's?"

"Minus five percent. Although it had been upgraded, the mobile suit is an old model after all."

The ZAFT chairman felt that there was not right. He had seen the footages as well as Rey's personal report regarding his battle with Fallen. It was strange that a supposedly inferior mobile suit to keep three of ZAFT's finest busy. "Don't we have anymore data? Pilot, perhaps?"

"We're trying to determine the pilot's identity by comparing it with combat archives but we're unsuccessful so far," Rey said neutrally.

"So she's probably wasn't involved the previous war, is it? Then unlike Yamato and Zala, we have only her current data," Gilbert said as he narrowed his eyebrows a bit. "Never mind. Just work with what we have."

"Yes. Right now, we'll continue on with the current quantum neural network optimization." Rey continued.

Despite the undergoing effort as reported by Rey, Gilbert wondered whether it would be enough in his fight to eradicate war and to bring about the ever lasting peace. "We may not need them after all," he said finally.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm going to propose a peace treaty to all parties."

"Forgive me for asking…"

Gilbert shook his head. "I know what you wanted to ask. You're wondering how we're going to get their trusts. It is easy. We'll let them decide who will host the meeting."

"I see."

While Rey said that he understood, the ZAFT Chairman wondered to what extent. The reason why he suggested for the other parties to host the discussion was the fact that although ZAFT, Terminal, Confederation and LOGOS had bad blood with each other, there was a higher chance of all of them agreeing on ZAFT to host it. It was the classical 'magician's choice'. LOGOS would never agree to Terminal and Confederation hosting the meeting because of their success in the recent campaign against North Atlantic Federation. Of course, LOGOS, being paranoid as it was, would never want the job; Terminal and Confederation wouldn't trust it anyway. So, by default, ZAFT, whose leader could be seen as trying to stop the war, seem the suitable party. "No matter how much LOGOS don't want peace to reign, it is a fact that if they don't want to be destroyed, they'll have to take it."

"But how about Destiny Plan? They'll certainly disagree with any proposal for the plan."

"I know that. But perhaps the world is unprepared for a real peace and I have to be realistic in that aspect. I'm thinking that maybe we can propose it later, once the other problems have been solved."

Rey was silent for a moment. "Do you think they'll really accept our proposal for a peace negotiation?"

"I wish I know."

* * *

While his hand mechanically entered the code on his door, Kira was so lost in his thought that it didn't register to him that he entered the wrong code. Cherubim would launch to space in the afternoon the next day. That meant that Fllay would go as well. Selfishly, he didn't want her to go and instead stay with him.

Kira's eyes widened at the thought.

Nary a few days after he was away from Lacus, he was already thinking of betraying her. Was he so perverse that he couldn't stay faithful to her? He had even promised her! Yet when he looked at Fllay, he could feel his will power evaporating. It didn't help that he could still remember the sensations he felt when they made love; he would be a fool to deny that Fllay made him feel complete. However, he loved Lacus and had promised her that he would always be with her.

It was strange that his promise was a bit hollow.

His hand pressed another code and the door opened. Instantly, he was overwhelmed by a myriad of emotions at the sight that greeted him.

The woman that was haunting his dream was standing near the window of the room.

"Fllay…"

"I was waiting for you,"

"How did you get here?"

"I landed thirty minutes ago, when you're still at ORB Parliament with your sister."

Only then Kira noticed that he wasn't in his own room but was in the same room where he met her for the very first time since the first war ended. For the very life of him, he couldn't explain why he went to the room instead of returning to his own.

Fllay turned toward him, worry etched on her face. She then closed the distance between the two of them. "I'm sorry, but I need to see you,"

"Why?" Kira asked, his voice a bit hoarse.

She put a hand on his cheek, caressing it slowly. "I'm scared about something, something that I need to warn..."

The caress snapped whatever self restrain that Kira had. He grabbed the hand, startling the girl in front of him a bit and then before she could react even more, engulfed her body in his arms and began kissing her passionately. While her body didn't move, Kira instinctually knew that mentally Fllay was trying to resist the advance but failing horribly. He could even feel the point where her resistance broke before she started to reciprocate.

Kira couldn't really describe what happened next as the only explanation that he had was that his entire being seemed to dissolve into nothingness as they became one.

The next thing he knew, he was lying next to her as his eyes tried to adjust to the morning light streaming through the room's window. His watched showed the time was 6.20 a.m. Even if he tried to delude himself that nothing happened between the two of them, the lingering scent of their lovemaking which pervaded the room like a velvety curtain confirmed that it had happened.

Kira got up and quickly got dressed, all the while feeling disgusted with himself for taking advantage of her. He had also cheated on Lacus once again.

"Kira?" Fllay, who had just got up from her slumber intoned.

The man didn't look at her as he knew he couldn't control himself if he did. "Fllay, sorry." He said softly. "I'm really sorry for using you, but I don't think we should meet again."

"Why?"

"Because we shouldn't, Fllay. We're lying to each other about our feelings and the longer we didn't admit the fact, the more and more we will be hurt."

He felt her got up from the bed and approached his back. He flinched when he felt her hand on his back; only god knew how much he wanted her. Despite that he persevered and didn't give in into the temptation to make love to her again.

"Kira, I can't do that. Because… because it will be more painful for me if we're apart. Every day I thought about you, Kira, that to do that is impossible."

"Last night… last night wasn't supposed to happen. I'm truly sorry, truly am as it was my fault but we have to stop this." He began to walk to the door but was stopped when she clutched at the back of his cloth desperately.

"Kira, please. I…," she released her hand and look down, "love… you."

Kira fisted his hands. He had almost lost control again when he heard her declaration. "How do you know it is love, Fllay?" he said gently. When she couldn't answer, she continued, "What we had in the first war was lust; it's probably the same thing right now." His head down and conscience laden with guilt, Kira walked out of the room. He didn't stop to look back at her. If he did he would be haunted by the sight of her eyes; the dawning light in her eyes extinguished callously and mercilessly.

Fllay wanted to go after him, to chase him even after the door closed behind him, but then his previous words came back to her. Like a phantom claw, it clenched her heart and the pain incapacitated her. The pain kept becoming more and more intense until she fell to the floor, her hand over her heart, all the while her mind going through his words again and again like a broken record. The statement had sheared through her like an unsharpened knife would; painfully slow and more damaging.

He had confirmed what she feared all this time. Her feeling, the love that she felt for him wasn't real. Then, all those memories that she had of them being together were fakes after all.

The pain was so overwhelming that her hands move to her head, all the while trembling. Her mouth opened to scream, but no sound came out; not even a whimper. She didn't have the strength.

Only after a few seconds did a single strangled sob of anguish escaped from her mouth.

* * *

1

* * *

**Author's note (14 December 2007)**

1) It's been a month since I last updated. Sorry, but work and other matters cut into my personal time. Besides, I normally take twice or even thrice the time to write any chapter that have Kira and Fllay's interaction, despite me planning to write about this particular piece in the very beginning of Fallen Angel. With this, I can say that I have three major Kira and Fllay scenes left to do.

2) I don't know whether I'll have the next update just in time, but in case I don't :-

**Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!! **


	57. Vertigo

"They're off to space," Mir said. All of the Archangel's bridge crew, plus Athrun and Lunamaria were at the bridge to watch Cherubim's launch. "Well, almost everyone that is. I wonder whether they knew that one of their crew members, the cook, is still onboard Minerva?

"Maybe it wouldn't matter. Judging from the situation, we'll probably go to space too," Romario said. "Remember, we have to go there to deliver Minerva to Lacus."

Kira agreed silently. He would be able to see Lacus. He missed her, didn't he? A vision entered his mind, one that of the woman who had just left him, causing guilt to fester in his heart. He shook his head to get rid the image.

"You don't want to go?" Mir asked.

"No, I don't mean that. I feel that I'm missing something very important."

"Ah, yes. That reminds me," Murrue interjected. "Lacus wanted to meet Meer."

"That's what I was trying to remember." It was a bit of white lie as Kira did feel that something was amiss, but it wasn't that he had forgotten Lacus' request. Instead, he felt that a part of him had been cut off; it didn't feel painful, except for a negligible headache.

Athrun looked at his friend, wondering about his strange behavior. He almost missed the very minute moment where Kira's eyes dilated abnormally. He himself wasn't sure about what he saw, but according to Gilbert had told him, it was a sign of SEED. The conniving chairman once remarked that the latent ability probably helped him while fighting and Athrun could find himself agreeing to the man's comment. There were few times when the world suddenly turned more vivid and he could almost predict what the enemy was thinking. However, at that time, they weren't in a fight and to see Kira manifest it out of the blue made him a bit edgy. He didn't know whether everyone else noticed it, but Kira seemed a bit subdued and drawn. _Everyone had problems every now and then_, he reasoned, giving a glance at the girl next to him who in turn smiled at him. "Currently we're trying to get the minimum crew to operate Minerva. Meyrin would return to her former station while Heine would pilot the ship. Cagalli will help if needed but most would be provided by Terminal."

"How about its original crew members?" Neumann, sitting in his helmsman chair, asked.

"Since Captain Talia and other crew members are POWs, they would be detained in ORB until the time is suitable to repatriate them back," Lunamaria answered.

"Seems to me that everyone is busy, as always," a man's voice commented as the door opened and a blonde man wearing a white Alliance uniform entered.

"Neuro!" Romario uttered.

"Oh, come on, if you want to remind me of my not-so-glorious past, at least do it properly. Neo. Neo Lornoke, not 'Neuro'; though I would prefer if you call me by my real one rather than that dominatrix-sounding name Djibril gave me. By the way, I'm your future famous, or rather infamous author, not a third-class pastry critic wannabe, mind you." While the blonde still wasn't interested in writing a book, it seemed fun pretending that he was going to do it.

Athrun had heard from Kira about what happened to the Hawk of Endymion and had sympathized with the older man. Being erased of his memory, the man had unwittingly went against his own principles, ones that made him abandon Earth Alliance in the first war. While he didn't like what Mwu had done, Athrun had a feeling that the man had already have a chip on his shoulder and need not any reminder. However, Lunamaria didn't know about the person before he became Djibril's puppet.

"You're the one who Gaia's pilot… Stellar mentioned when we captured her at that Extendeds facility..."

Everyone else became still.

"And I want to ask you about..."

"Hey," Mwu interrupted in a strained voice before Lunamaria could say more, "before you start, let me tell you that while I'm not proud of my achievements, I don't regret becoming the trio's commanding officer. This may seem strange considering that the three of them, Sting, Auel and Stellar, are considered as Biological CPUs by the higher ups and nothing more, I consider them as human beings. Because of that, I wouldn't apologize for leading them because if I don't, someone else who'll treat them badly will be in charge; probably one who'll feel less guilty about Berlin."

An uneasy silence blanketed the room.

"Actually," Lunamaria broke the silence with a small timid voice, "I know that if Athrun trust you, there's a good reason for him to do so. I was just going to ask about the faint mark on your right cheek."

"Oh…" the former Phantom Pain Colonel uttered embarrassedly while his hand absently rubbed the said area. He had overreacted to that 'ZAFTie' girl and managed to humiliate himself. Answering her question would really spoil the 'cool' image that he had built all those while. After all, he could not admit that the mark was from Murrue who had slapped him just after he had landed on Archangel with his Murasame having as many holes as a Swiss cheese. She was really angry with him for making her worry and had 'rewarded' him appropriately.

He wanted to explain to Murrue but she wouldn't hear of it and instead kissed him passionately, pouring all of her love into it. Recalling the whole thing vividly, he was thankful that Murdoch and the other technicians made themselves scarce when they saw Murrue storming to the hangar; his male ego would have taken a severe beating if they were around when the whole thing happened. "Well, it's nothing really. One of the panels in my mobile suit's cockpit blew and well… let's just say that I'm lucky that nothing bad happened and leave it at that".

From the corner of his eyes, Mwu could see Murrue rolling her eyes.

* * *

"This is boring," Seth Dramon, the pilot of Buster MKII or better known to its enemies as 'Dark Buster' drawled while firing its Gauss Hyper Velocity rifle at an unfortunate Windam to its right. The rifle's depleted-uranium tipped projectile pierced through the mobile suit's hip and continued on until it hit another Windam which was almost directly behind the first one. The second mobile suit combusted almost immediately but the first one remained intact. However, it was rendered helpless and immobile because most of its pneumatic and computer controls at the hips were damaged. 

"Fucked-a-bore," Seth said as he turned toward another prey. He letting the mobile suit off wasn't a mercy act; rather it was the worst thing that can happen to a mobile suit pilot fighting in space. With everything damaged and all nearby help were methodically destroyed, the helpless pilot couldn't do anything but just wait until his air supply ran out.

"How come I'm being saddled with taking care of insignificant bugs?" he asked rhetorically while attacking another Windam with its Galvanon rifle. He didn't mind being ordered to fight Coordinators and Confederation, but he hated the fact that all the foes he had fought were unskilled. He wished that Djibril had allowed him to join the battle between ZAFT and ORB two weeks prior. He would have had so much fun killing both sides while at the same time fighting against stronger opponents.

The last time he felt some semblance of happiness when he had to face Strike Freedom though the pilot was a coward and relied on those weird flying thingies. Of course, those useless commanders of his had to use nuclear weapons. He was fortunate that Buster's long range radar had caught their coming. Unfortunately, the medic bitch piloting Duel followed him and managed to survive too. He really didn't get that lowlife. If she wanted to become a murderer, she didn't have to play doctor and treat injured soldiers onboard the ship and instead came with him for the current mission. To him, she was just a big hypocrite, not that he really care for her. Besides, with her not coming, he had more targets to practice on.

"Move out of the way!" he shouted while shooting a Slaughter Dagger belonging to his own team that accidentally got between him and his prey. "Stupid retard, wasting my time," he muttered as his allies units wisely moved away lest they be shot.

"Good for you bastards, knowing your… huh? Radar flashing?" Seth looked at the radar display. Buster's remote sensing capabilities outperformed even dedicated AWACS units, allowing him to detect the newcomer even before his ship. "Just a single unit? Guess so, since I wiped out two flights already." He switched on the long range optical system and a small display propped up.

"Freedom… no, it's just the copycat," he sighed. Buster took out both Galvanon and Gauss rifles and aimed it at his target. "Take care of those trash," he said to his underlings. Buster's small vector engines flared up to stabilize the mobile suit while its computer-assisted targeting computed the target solution so that both the beam and hyper-velocity projectile would hit the same spot, ensuring damage would be dealt whatever the defensive mechanism the black Freedom would employ.

"Come on," Seth said as the targeting reticule tried to land on the black Freedom, "make my day… come on… Got it!" He pressed the trigger and the cockpit shook a bit from the recoils as the two weapons fired simultaneously. Few seconds later, coolant particles escaped from the Galvanon's barrel. "Easy kill," he said while switching off the long range optical system.

However, the blip was still there.

Puzzled, the Buster pilot reactivated the optical system. To his surprise, the mobile suit was intact, with no damage at all. His puzzlement grew at what it did after that. "Why did it…"

The words died when it disappeared right in front of his eyes.

He must have blinked, Seth was sure of that. But where did the copycat go? He turned his mobile suit around to search, squinting at the screen.

"Sir!" one of his underlings called out in alarm a few seconds later.

"What?" he barked.

It was then he found his view slightly muddled by the dark orange mist. It was a strange sight to behold and Seth found himself briefly thinking about his hometown not far from Washington. While it was a small city, it was beautiful and the sight of it during autumn. When he was small, his mother or his father would always rake the leaves and he would jump into the pile. Later in his teenage years, he and his girlfriend would always go for a stroll or a picnic in the park during autumn. Unlike others, he found autumn to be the most beautiful season, though the reason escaped him.

Tragically, autumn was the season when it happened; a crazed killer had descended upon his school one day and started to shoot anyone randomly. He himself narrowly escaped death himself as the gunman pointed the gun at him. Unfortunately, his girlfriend entered the classroom at that moment, and the gunman shot her. It was then Seth felt hatred overtaking him. The next thing he knew, he had already wrenched the gun out of the killer. Disarmed, the gunman was no match for the yellow-eyed Seth as the APEX holder steadily broke his hands, feet, and many joints of his body before finally ending his life by snapping off his neck.

To Seth, it was the best time of his life, feeling the exhilaration and thrill of slowly ending another person's life.

The klaxon siren blared while a mechanical female voice announcing that Buster was slowly being overwhelmed brought Seth out of his reverie. The pilot wondered why he was reminiscing about his past when Fallen was right in front, trying to kill him. He only managed to locate the black and red mobile suit when it was just a few meters away from him. It was only due to his reflex that Buster managed to block Fallen's small beam swords from hacking it into pieces.

Seth was one of the very few APEX holders. Because of that fact, he had superior senses as well as reflexes even exceeding Coordinators. It was the reason why he was chosen to pilot Buster MKII, not one of those Extendeds.

It should have been easy for him to deflect the attack, push his enemy back and then counterattack. His APEX abilities would certainly give him an unfair edge over any pilot, except the exceptional ones.

The person piloting the copycat Freedom was one of them.

Seth knew soon, it would be over for him. He knew, because his instinct told him that another one like him was inside the black mobile suit; an APEX holder could somehow sense another APEX or even SEED holder, though it varies from individual to individual. Seth's instinct told him the reason why he was totally outclassed: the pilot's mind was even more corrupted and desolated than his.

He saw something behind Fallen being deployed and knew very well what was about to happen. It was at that moment his mind supplied the answer to what he experienced seconds before: he was seeing his life flash by.

"Fuck!"

Five minutes later, Merlin, the AWACS-capable mobile suit belonging to Cherubim arrived at the scene and transmitted video feed of the scene to the ship. At the hangar, everyone stare silently as the feed showed Fallen floating mindlessly amidst debris and wreckages of what used to be its opponents.

"Unbelievable…" Lim uttered while rubbing his eyes.

"Talk about turning the enemies into dust…" Razak commented.

"I wish I know what happened to our redhead. She used to be more cheerful before," someone commented.

"Maybe while fighting against LOGOS on Earth she saw what they did and was pissed off," another one suggested.

There were murmurs of agreement among the crowd.

Terrence who was watching along with them knew better. He was with Barzhakov when the two of them finally found her cowering inside a supplies store. The woman had a wild and lost look on her face while whispering that she was trying to manipulate instead of protecting 'him' again and again. It was an unbearable sight to watch. He was about to call Dorothy or anyone who could help when Barzhakov stopped him and shook his head. The Cherubim then kneeled in front of her.

Barzhakov then did the unexpected when he said that he agreed that she was very selfish person by trying to get close to the person. After all, he said, she had committed a horrendous sin toward that person and shouldn't even hope for forgiveness. The only thing she should focus on was to live and to fight in order to protect him.

She nodded, while saying that she would do that before getting up and left the place. It was the first time Terrence felt anger toward a man whom he had respected so much. He was about to give the older man a piece of his mind and perhaps some more pieces of his fists when he noticed the lingering scent of copper. Terrence moved in front of the man only to see that there was a large gash on the stoic man's lower lips; Barzhakov was so frustrated that he didn't notice that he bitten his own lips. Realization came to Terrence to the reason why the Barzhakov said what he said. While the words were, without any doubt cruel, they managed to bring Fllay out of her condition and galvanized her to keep on living, even though for a twisted reason. As long as she lived, there would be a chance to help her.

"The test has been completed successfully, with every parameter is in the plus minus five percent," Terrence's assistant announced to him.

Still watching Fallen, he wondered whether she was beyond any help.

* * *

"Say that again?" 

Surrounded by multiple computer displays as well as piles of documents, one would immediately get the impression that Cagalli Yula Attha was a busy woman, which was unexpected given that her country was still recovering from the previous battle's aftermath. She pushed a stack of papers aside absentmindedly although there was no need to do that since from his standing position Kisaka could see her face. Her gesture did tell him that he had her attention though. "ZAFT has proposed a truce agreement."

"Humph!" Cagalli snorted as she stamped 'Rejected' on a document in front of her; it was on a proposal to increase tax, "Why is it any different from the current situation? We're not shooting at each other now." She then did the same to another document, this time a proposal on reducing budget for education for the following year. "Even if we sign it, it wouldn't be that hard to break the agreement. Gilbert only needs to cook up some lies and then attack us again."

"The truce agreement will apply to everyone. They claim that it would be a temporary measure so that all parties can sit down and negotiate for a peace treaty."

Cagalli let out a startled yelp.

"Lady Cagalli?"

"Look what you make me do: I accidentally rejected a proposal to increase the grain import from the Republic of East Asia." She looked at the paper distastefully and put it aside. "Whatever, I'll have it corrected later. So, does this include LOGOS?"

"Yes. According to our data, the current situation is unfavorable both to ZAFT and LOGOS, so the most optimum time would be know," Kisaka answered, knowing very well what she wanted know. He didn't need to mention to Cagalli about its implication as she would understand that the statement meant that the treaty has a higher chance of success since the Confederation, ORB and other interested parties could get more concession more than they usually would from LOGOS and ZAFT.

"Neither ZAFT nor LOGOS cannot afford to sit this one out," Cagalli mused, "If, say LOGOS decided not to, then the peace treaty will somehow become an alliance treaty." She threw a document straight into the wastepaper basket next to her. "I expected no less from someone who managed to deceive the whole PLANTs."

"So, what should we do?"

The representative gave a defeated look around her desk. "For me, it would be the same thing I'm doing now. There are a lot of things to do here. Send someone else in my stead"

"But for the treaty, we shouldn't just send anyone."

Cagalli pondered on Kisaka's words for a few moments. "All governments would be invited, naturally?"

"Yes, all including neutral ones. Therefore we should ensure that we, along with Terminal can influence the future discussions and voting in our favor."

"Which is to strip LOGOS and ZAFT of their power," she said while nodding her head. She then took out a piece of paper and quickly wrote a letter, signed it and then stamped it with the official ORB seal. She then handed it to Kisaka. "I understand that we need to send an influential representative, even if it just as a figurehead." Kisaka read the letter in the hand and narrowed his eyebrows slightly. Perhaps he had been wrong to think that Cagalli and her father's personality were similar.

The ORB representative leaned into her chair while crossing her arms. "So we'll send the newly promoted 'General Yamato' and accompanied by Archangel." She smiled mischievously. "I'm very certain that ZAFT's Chairman wouldn't mind him being there."

Her assistant gave her a calculating look. She could be very cheeky if she wanted to, unlike her father who was more direct and straightforward. He smiled. Yes, Cagalli and her father were very different. "I think it's a very good idea, Lady Cagalli."

Two days after that, both of them were at the port, along with Kira, Athrun and Murrue.

Cagalli looked at the boosters affixed to Archangel and Minerva. When she received the communiqué about the peace treaty proposal, she immediately asked for the two ships to be prepared for space travel, causing the installation crew to work all around the clock. "Sorry for the sudden promotion and order to depart to space, _little brother_, but this peace treaty is very important for everyone."

"I understand," Kira said while nodding his head. "All of us will do the best that we can."

His sister's eyebrows furrowed. She knew that something was off by the statement, but she wasn't sure what it was. If Cagalli wasn't preoccupied with other things, she would have noticed that Kira didn't make any comment on her referring to him as the younger sibling. "Well, since you understand the situation, I guess we'll leave it in your hands."

"Don't worry, we'll take a good care of him," Athrun said.

Cagalli raised her hands in mock exasperation. "Looks who's talking… but I guess beggars cannot be choosers. Very well, take a good care of him," she said while eyeing Kira.

Both Kisaka and Cagalli remained at the port to watch Archangel and Minerva depart.

"Be safe, little brother…" Cagalli uttered as both ships slowly disappear from her view.

* * *

When Kira and others disembark from their respective ships, Lacus had been waiting for him along with some others. He briefly smiled before his eyes roamed around the base. "Where's Cherubim?" Kira asked out of the blue. "I thought Barzhakov is supposed to be with us for the negotiation." 

"No, he wouldn't," Lacus answered. Truth be told, she was also expecting the Cherubim's captain to be among them, though if that happened, _she _would be there as well. Thinking about that made the pink-haired leader felt happy, albeit guiltily, about Cherubim not joining the negotiation.

A man shrugged. "Unfortunately for me, the higher-ups feel that I would be a better person to send to the negotiation table. They feel that Barzhakov would be best being assigned to blowing things up, not something as boring but nevertheless very important such as this."

Kira recognized him. "You're Robinson, right?"

"Call me Mark," as the other man offered his hands.

"Kira."

Rounds of introduction were exchanged. The most notable one was between Lacus and Meer. It was like seeing identical twins finally meeting after a life-ling separation. The latter had started by apologizing but the former wouldn't hear of it as to her, what Meer had done was for the good for the PLANTs even though she was used by Gilbert. The only appalled Lacus was that Meer had to become her in order to do so; while she wasn't angry about the other woman impersonating her, she felt that it was a disservice to Meer herself. Even though the two of them had just met, she immediately recognized that they were quite similar in many ways that given the right opportunities Meer would shine on the stage, perhaps even more than she was.

After the exchange, the whole group, sans Meer whose role would be different, went to the meeting room to discuss the preparations for the upcoming negotiation. Despite knowing the fact that they had the advantage, they were apprehensive, just as they should be since the future of humankind hinged on the outcome of the negotiation. While no one held the illusion that peace would come easily, they knew that they had to make it work, even to the extent of shaking hand with both Gilbert and Djibril.

After few hours of thorough discussion, they had decided the stand that they will take on the basic issues, leaving the rest for bargaining. With that settled, all of them retired to rest, as the big event was only two days away and adequate rest was sorely needed to ensure that everybody would be prepared for it. Two people remained in the room as they watched everyone leaving. As the door closed, Lacus made her way to Kira and settled into his embrace. "I miss you, Kira."

"Me too," he said as he breathed in the scent of her hair.

"After this… after we put this war behind us, then we can be together again,"

He stroke her hair fondly. "I can't wait for that day to come,"

"Sometimes…," she said absently, "I wonder how things would be if I'm simply Lacus…"

"Hmm? I don't understand," he said, as he withdrew a bit just to have a look at her face.

"I'm tired of pretending, Kira, pretending that I can do everything."

He held her close to him again. "I know the feeling."

"If we don't to pretend that we're not who people thought we are, maybe we can be happy, like Mwu and Murrue."

Kira stiffened a bit. Even in Lacus' arms, he was constantly being reminded of Fllay. He knew that that Lacus didn't mean to do that, it was just that he had thought Fllay died, similar to Murrue with Mwu. However, in comparison with Murrue, he had moved on, with Lacus as his new anchor in life.

It was strange that his mind felt numb to that statement. Maybe he needed to repeat it to himself more often.

"Kira?" Lacus' voice brought him out of his inner world.

"I'm thinking about us, how we can be happy," he said, twisting his words a bit as he didn't know how to explain his thought to her.

"Kira, right now I'm happy" Lacus whispered before capturing his lips.

As he kissed her back, he repeated to himself that Lacus was his anchor.

* * *

"All preparations has been completed." 

"Good." Gilbert said. Everything was proceeding according to his plan. As he had expected, other parties grudgingly acceded to ZAFT playing the host for the talk. Actually, Scandinavian Kingdom was quite popular with many nations, but due it being more sympathetic with Terminal which had entered into some sort of an alliance with the Confederation, predictably LOGOS objected. Other nations also didn't want to host the meeting, no doubt concerned about them drawing any bloc's ire and consequently its wrath.

He was rather surprised when it was Djibril, rather than Lacus or even Costeau, who suggested that ZAFT become the host for the talk.

Sitting behind Jupiter's captain, he let his thought wander, thinking about Minerva in general and its captain in particular. The last information he received regarding them was about the ship blasting off from ORB, no doubt headed toward Terminal's hideout. That would mean that its crew would probably remain in ORB.

Talia.

Perhaps her release, along with the rest of the crew, could be discussed during the talk.

"What's the time now?" he asked.

"One minute until the designated time."

"All parties?"

"The messages that we received indicated that they're ready to go."

"Good." In order to prevent any faction from springing up surprise attacks or ambushes, the location of the talk would only be revealed at the last possible moment through a coded communication device. While theoretically anyone could then bring along their fleet, they couldn't do it without alerting everyone else as even in vast space, a large fleet's movement would be easily detectable.

Despite that, no one would come to the meeting unarmed. LOGOS would certainly be represented by the three Girty-Lue-class ships that attacked ZAFT's orbital fleet few months prior whereas Clyne would certainly bring along Strike Freedom and the traitors. The Confederation would certainly side with her so he expected Cherubim to make its appearance too. On his side, he had Destiny and Legend accompanying Jupiter. While the escorting ships weren't as powerful as LOGOS or Terminal's, he wasn't worried. Clyne, being too honest to even make a horrible politician would never attack him and if Djibril tried to, well, he was sure that Clyne would have her lap boys mop all of LOGOS.

His eyes caught something out of place on one of the larger screens. "Is that the radar?" he asked.

"Yes," the radar officer, a petite blonde answered.

Before he could ask further, her expression changed. "Our long range sensors detected a large energy source from the dark side of the moon."

It took Gilbert a fraction of a second to figure what it was. Djibril had used his final ace. "Can you track the energy's movement?"

"It's changing direction a few times…" her eyes widened in horror. "It is moving toward us!"

The ZAFT Chairman felt his blood curdled. Djibril wasn't supposed to know about his position; it was a secret along with everybody else's. A realization came to him and he shook his head, smiling ruefully. "Perhaps it would have been better for me to play 'Go' instead of chess, right Djibril?," he mused out loud, thinking about strategic board game for two players known as Wéiqí in Chinese or Baduk in Korean.

The game is played by two players alternately placing black and white stones on the vacant intersections of a line grid. Two players, Black and White, take turns placing a game piece of their own color on a vacant point on a Go board in order to encircle opposing pieces and thus capture them. While the rules were no doubt simpler than chess, the strategies employed in winning the game were no doubt more intricate.

Gilbert could relate the game to his current situation. He planned everything elaborately as if it was a giant chess game, and reacting to his opponents involved outthinking them few steps ahead. The ZAFT Chairman would have thought differently if he approached the war from a 'Go' game perspective. Gilbert would have seen that it didn't really matter what move others would make; what important was that he used all of their own moves to his advantage.

That was being done by _that_ person to him, out of all people, was unthinkable. However, that revelation didn't anger him. Gilbert could be a graceful loser and he knew that he would have lost no matter what move he made. Unlike him who tried to manipulate everything, his opponent only needed to ensure that everything would fit in his plan, whatever it was.

"It seems that I'm totally defeated and outsmarted you," Gilbert said with a wisp of a smile on his face. "I wonder what kind of fate you intend for this world…"

Jupiter had tried to move out of the greenish beam's way, but it was all in vain. The Minerva-class ship and its two Nazca-class escorts were bathed in a greenish light and a second later, they existed no more.

Inside Destiny, Shinn was scrambling to understand what was going on. He managed to move his mobile just in time to avoid the fate that befallen the ships. To add to his confusion, there were three flashes of lights in the direction of the PLANTs. Then the realization hit him: the flashes were nuclear explosions.

It felt surreal, as if he was experiencing a very bad dream and would wake up at any moment. However, Rey's scream through the radio line proved that it wasn't a dream, not at all.

It was the beginning of a nightmare.

* * *

1

* * *

**Author's note (13 January 2008)**

1. I know it gets tiring after some time, so I'll skip explaining why I took some time to update. I do try to update at least once a month though.

2. Well, here you are, the start of the final battle. It took me some rewritings and reshuffle of my plans, but I feel this is a 'good enough' for me (I once read that in writing a story, 'the best' is a constantly moving target so it's not really achievable).

3. Thanks to Nick2951 whose idea on Copland's death in 'Checkmate' chapter 8 gave me some ideas on twoscenes in this chapter.

4. Wikipedia have a good explanation on the game 'Go'. When I was in school, I played a derivation of the game, using graph papers and two colored pens instead of a board and its accompanying pieces.


	58. Tomorrow

"I can't believe it..." Shinn uttered, ignoring the jarring of Destiny's cockpit as the mobile suit collided with part of what used to be Jupiter's right wing. "What the hell happened?" He adjusted his communication system's frequency to hail the home fleet. "This is Destiny of LHM-BB02 Jupiter. Can you read me? Over."

There was only statics on the line for a few seconds before a slightly muffled voice answered. "_Come… This is Luther." _There was no picture at all, despite Shinn's attempt to rectify the problem.

The name sounded familiar to him. Then he remembered a particular mission where he escorted a Nazca-class ship with the same name. "I read you, Luther. Over"

"_Tell us the st…. over…there. Over_."

"Jupiter has been destroyed! I repeat, Jupiter has been destroyed! What's the status over there? Over."

"…_clear…. on……. Currently enga…. Fall… from…radia…Require assistance…_"There was another bright flash coming from PLANTs and the line went dead.

"Luther, come in Luther... DAMN!" he swore in frustration. The situation in PLANT didn't bode well. He was about to engage Destiny's boosters to go there when he saw Legend moving through the debris, looking around frantically. Shinn reprimanded himself for forgetting about his current situation. "Rey?"

"Gil… I must find Gil!" Rey's frantic voice betrayed his normally calm and demure character.

"Rey, keep calm. PLANTs are also under attack right now. We must return and protect them first. Where is Crusade…" Shinn stopped in the middle of his sentence as a half charred body of Crusader floated into his view. As it had just been launched when they were attacked, the mobile suit suffered the same fate as others.

The Destiny's pilot turned his attention back to Rey and saw that man was ignoring what he said. Swallowing his irritation, he engaged the Wings of Light and sped off toward PLANTs. At the same time, he was furiously thinking about what had happened at the colonies. He didn't know what he would find, but he was sure that it wouldn't be good. Whatever the case, the bastard who orchestrated the attack would pay dearly.

Meanwhile, the said person was relaxing on his leather couch, swirling a glass of wine a bit, letting the intoxicant aerate a little bit more, while at the same time looking at his subordinate, a young lieutenant who just entered his private suite. He gestured to a large screen behind him that was showing distant explosions. "Tell me about the status."

"They managed to hit one of our missiles, but the other three hit their respective targets. Armory One, Aprillius City as well as October City have been destroyed. We haven't got the full data but from earlier estimate five percent of ZAFT's force in the area at that time was annihilated in the blasts, although we believe that around ten percent of the ships and mobile suits were caught up in the resulting radiation fields."

Djibril smirked at that statement. It was known even to him that Coordinators were no more immune to gamma radiation than Naturals. No, if he remembered correctly, they're even more susceptible to it. Something to do with their cells divide faster; while it allowed them to heal from injuries and ailments faster, cells were more vulnerable to radiation while they're in the middle of division. Not that he cared as the only good Coordinators were dead Coordinators. "How about Messiah?"

"We've also destroyed it. The base wasn't heavily guarded as most of the ZAFT units are at PLANTs. However, unlike what our Intel suggested, there's no GENESIS being installed there."

"Good. How long will it be until Girty Lue returns?"

The other man gulped as he had hoped that Djibril would be ecstatic enough not to ask further. "I'm very sorry sir, but we lost Girty Lue and Nana Baluku in the attack against PLANTs. Furthermore…," the man suddenly felt the air-conditioned room was a bit too warm for his liking, "The assault group that destroyed Messiah is suffering heavy casualties, around seventy percent." The man stood still, waiting for Djibril to explode.

Surprisingly, Djibril only had a thoughtful look on his face.

"Very well, you may leave. Inform me if there's any new development."

The lieutenant saluted curtly and left the room, wondering about his lucky break. Djibril was known to be 'shoot-the-messenger' kind of person and for him to escape unscathed was something he didn't expect. Little that he knew that to Djibril, the loss suffered was merely considered as 'collateral damages' required to ensure that the blue and pure world as well as his grip on power can be achieved.

The LOGOS leader made himself more comfortable, thinking about his impending victory. Admittedly, he was tired of laughing at Gilbert's stupidity for setting himself to be killed. Of course, underestimating him, Lord Djibril of LOGOS, had ensured the fool's death warrant. Gilbert thought that he's the only one with spies? Hah! He should have learned that Djibril had spies as well. It was the reason why the hijackings in Armory One succeeded and ZAFT suffered a crushing blow in the Azores islands.

Djibril raised his wine glass in a mock toast to the footage that showed Jupiter and its escorts being destroyed. "Don't worry, Gilbert. I will continue the so-called Destiny Plan. But I will make some changes as well. In fact, I can already see destiny; pure and blue world being with only the pure and untainteds living in it."

He sipped his wine and decided that the idiots who called themselves as wine connoisseurs were wrong to say that red wine goes best with red meat. It was wrong, especially if the wine was of a rare and premium vintage.

Only total victory and success would be the perfect match for the palate.

* * *

Despite how much it pained her, Lacus kept her eyes on the screen as it showed the destruction of Aprillius One. However, the gruesome sight proved too much to watch and she had to turn her head away. "How could this happen? I thought ZAFT still had two or three ships fitted with Neutron Stampeder?" 

"They sneaked right under everyone's nose using the same Boogey-One class ships and launched the missiles at almost point blank." Da Costa said.

"Almost similar to Cherubim's original mission," Mark remarked. "The whole administrative was there?"

Da Costa's silence answered the question.

"As I suspected…" Mark sighed. "But I didn't expect Djibril to pull this off."

"You know about it and didn't say anything?" Dearka asked, angered by other man's relaxed manner. "Your Confederation is involved in this, didn't it?"

"Don't be an idiot, soldier!" Mark barked silencing him. "If we wanted to, we would have done so months ago and no one will be the wiser. Honestly, PLANTs were attacked by nuclear weapons not one but THREE times and you're saying that you don't expect for the fourth strike to happen?"

"Why?" Lacus asked. "Why did they do this?"

The Confederation supreme military commander sighed, calming himself. "I'll not mince words with you people: it's moral. From what I can see most of ZAFT's military is unscathed. But due to the terror and fear that's to be expected from the people over this incident, it would have to divide its strength to protect PLANTs as well as go after the giant beam canon that killed Gilbert."

"Why the beam cannon and not nuclear weapon stockpiles?" Kira asked.

"Because it would be easier to defend against nuclear warheads." Mwu answered before Mark did. "You and Athrun did just that in the first war, didn't you remember?"

Athrun nodded. "And I really don't want to say this but the reason why they managed to do it this time, but not the second and third time, is because the strike team is smaller."

"As you can see, to LOGOS, the important thing is they get rid of Gilbert. The nuclear strike is probably a diversion or something." Mark said.

"What a horrifying man," Murrue said.

"I agree," he concurred. "What scares me more is that he's doing this despite knowing that he has to face everyone." He turned toward Lacus. "So, what now, princess?"

Lacus didn't answer but kept watching the rerun of the video food. She knew what Mark meant by his statement. With Gilbert dead and most of PLANTs' administration was wiped out, someone had to rally the people. Her thought strayed to Meer. "We have to go to PLANT," she said slowly.

"I understand what you're thinking, but maybe you would like to reconsider your decision."

Da Costa grabbed Mark's collar gruffly. "You don't understand the situation, do you? People are dying!"

Mark let out a long sigh before kicking the man in the groin. As the other man crumpled to the ground in pain, he said apologetically, "I'm very sorry but you're letting your anger cloud your mind. Also, I must say that it is you who don't understand what is going on."

"But PLANTs will be in the state of panic without her at the helm." Murrue argued.

"Yes, but remember that the situation can become worse. I saw it in your eyes just now, Lacus, and I would like to remind you that your original decision is better. If the famous Andrew Bartfeld is still alive, he would have agreed that going to PLANTs will be a blunder."

"How dare you…" Da Costa growled from his position on the floor but Lacus' words stopped him.

"Wait, Da Costa. He's right."

"But Miss Lacus…"

"You're afraid that Djibril might use the same beam cannon on PLANTs again if he knows that she's there?" Heine, arms crossed, interjected.

Mark nodded. "I can't even imagine the psychological effect on PLANTs' inhabitants if they see their leaders killed right in front of their very eyes one by one. Also, by being at any one of the remaining colonies, she will put it in danger. Djibril would certainly have no qualms using the weapon again if he could kill her along with thousands of other Coordinators as well. On other hand, as long as she remains inconspicuous, Djibril would be less hesitant to fire it at PLANTs and instead will save it for use against any attempt to attack the installation."

"I will follow your advice." Lacus said. "I will contact ZAFT and see what we can do to prevent this from happening."

"That's a good move." There was another reason why he didn't want Lacus to return to PLANTs, one that he didn't voice. If she did, Djibril could try to damage her reputation by alleging that she was in cohort with him and the attacks were conducted to allow her to come to power. While she would no doubt prevail against such scheme, it would require some time and time was a precious commodity everyone couldn't waste. Instead, it would have been better if she rallied the headless ZAFT to immediately attack the LOGOS base; with everyone in a mood for revenge or at the very least feeling the need to protect their home, they would be very motivated to fight. While it made Mark felt bad as he somehow manipulated her into doing what he wanted her to do, it was necessary for the good of everyone. "I will do the same. I believe the Confederation will be more than happy to help."

"Why didn't Djibril try to kill her along with Gilbert during the summit?" Dearka asked.

"A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush," Mwu offered. "He would have to come as well in order to convince everyone. Of course the coward wouldn't take the risk. Besides, everyone will on high alert before, during and after the meeting."

"I wouldn't forgive him. If the only way to stop Djibril is to kill him then so be it." The statement was made by someone unexpected.

"Kira?" Lacus asked, surprised.

"Naturals and Coordinators, whether they live on Earth or in space, deserve to live in peace. But yet this man had no problem continuing the war for the sake of continuing his agenda. I don't know what else we can do than to stop him."

"I agree with him," Mwu said. "I don't have any problems doing away with someone who kidnapped Stellar and others and then turned them into killing machines."

* * *

"You're quiet today," Fllay greeted as she skipped toward Terrence's workstation. 

"Maybe I feel like being taciturn for a change," he replied while he kept typing on his console, not even looking at her.

"Goody. I was dreading your daily dose of sexual harassment."

"If you're acting like this just to placate me you're sorely mistaken, Fllay," he said quietly while looking at her from the corner of his eyes. "In case you forgot I was there when you broke down. It was I who found you cowering inside the store room!"

"So you would prefer me to remain in that state?"

Terrence fisted and opened his right hand a few times, trying to calm himself. He stormed his way to a nearby office room, not really caring whether she followed him or not. He quickly made his way to a water cooler, got a cup of water, gulped it down greedily and felt his anger subsided a bit. However, his body tensed when he heard the door being opened and closed behind him.

"If you think I'm pretending to be happy, let me tell you I'm not." Fllay said in a normal voice.

"Then what? Don't tell me you got those antidepressants. You know as well as I do that those craps don't do anything for..." he turned toward her in midst of his tirade only to stop talking. He was caught by the small sad smile she had on her face.

"To tell you the truth, Terence, it still hurts. It hurts so much that I felt as if my soul is actually rotting. I don't know the reason, but even as I speak to you, I can feel this stabbing pain all over me; it's as if a part of me was missing. As the same time there's something whispering to me, telling me to kill you in order to see whether the pain will subside even for a bit and it's not because of your crappy jokes."

Terrence frowned at the admission.

"I hid myself because I almost succumb to that voice at that time…"

"Yet, you're here with me, and I'm safe, even for a moment."

"Thanks to Captain."

"You weren't there to see him regretting those words"

Fllay closed her eyes. "I know about it,"

"Huh?"

"Terrence, I know his way of thinking and principles. You weren't there when he and Wilhelm found me."

"I was already a crew of this ship at that time."

"What I meant was the place, the exact room. I was. The reason why I follow him is because his eyes at that time. He was searching for his deceased son at that time, right?"

"True. I heard the poor kid killed in the war, probably at Jachin."

"At that time, there was a brief moment when I saw him being a father instead of the man who lead the attack on the facility; a man anguished by the fact that he couldn't do anything for his son, not even giving him a proper burial. However, I also saw the determination not to shirk his responsibility for everyone despite that."

"… always playing the gruff and tough role."

"When he said those words, I know that he wanted me out of that state. And they did, though for a different reason."

"That reason being…"

She opened her eyes, revealing rabid yellow orbs in their depth, causing Terrence to instinctively take a step backward. "Don't worry. The whispering that I told you about? It can't influence me anymore because it can't even hold a candle to another terror that I'm feeling right now. Captain's words reminded me of that. You want to know something else? I'm learning to accept the pain because it constantly reminds me of my past sins. That and the fear are the only things remaining that make me feel alive right now."

"Fllay…" It still stung him to see her in such a mentally messed up state.

She laughed sadly. "Maybe the reason why I'm acting normally is that I'm already beyond insane. Regardless, it is that fear which fuels my determination to soldier on, to do what I must, no, what I will do."

"To do what?"

"Before I answer that, do you remember about what you said regarding Glen?"

"Yeah. I told everyone that I believe that what he meant by his speech is that Coordinators are keepers or regulators of humankind's future; by this statement, I believe that in his eyes, anyone who works for the betterment of mankind is a true Coordinator, regardless of whether his genes have been enhanced or not." Terrence chuckled. "I remember the look everyone gave me when I said that Captain Barzhakov can be considered a Coordinator. Obviously a Blue Cosmos member who pollutes that air of the ship under his command doesn't really fall into that view." Terrence looked at the woman in front of him softly. "Maybe, in a way, you're a Coordinator too."

Fllay laughed. "I don't think so, Terrence. I'm neither altruistic enough to help safeguard the future nor I am its steward."

"Yet you still fight."

"Yes, I still fight, but not because to protect the future."

"Then why?"

"I fight to change it."

* * *

Lacus stifled a yawn as she poured over the tactical map inside Minerva's bridge. The previous days had been pretty gruesome for her and everyone involved. In just a short period, she had helped reestablished the whole chain of command of ZAFT although there was suspicions on her person when she contacted it. Fortunately she had a good share of sympathizers in it as well as in PLANTs so it was a bit easier. 

Meer had volunteered to go PLANTs in an effort to calm the populace down. Initially Lacus was reluctant to let her because she feared that the PLANTs populace would react negatively to the girl because of her being involved in Gilbert's deception. Meer insisted however, telling her that the people needed for their Lacus to be there; perhaps a fake one would fit the job. Surprisingly, the girl was right. Despite grieving over their loss, they were quite receptive, even though they knew that the 'Lacus' that addressed them wasn't the real one.

Lacus was glad that went well. Secretly, she was a little jealous but she was also happy for her being accepted by everyone. She was also pleased that the reorganization went smoothly. The only thing that put a damper on her enthusiasm was the lack of time for her and Kira to meet. Sure, they meet each other every now and then but they had only had enough time for a brief chat and perhaps a kiss before someone would come with an announcement that would interrupt that. Lacus rubbed her eyes tiredly. The days were too long indeed.

"Lady Clyne," Meyrin announced, breaking her out her muse, "Pocahontas is contacting us"

"Pocahontas?"

"The Confederation's flagship."

"Oh. Please patch it through."

Mark's face appeared on the screen, she

"Hello, Mark. How the preparation on your side?" Lacus asked.

"ONE OF MY ASSISTANTS LIKE TO SING THIS SONG WHENEVER HE FEELS CHEERY… 'IT'S SUCH A WONDERFUL A WONDERFUL MORNING…'" Mark said while mimicking the man's song.

"So, everything is going well?"

Mark sighed. "WELL, CONSIDERING THAT HE SUNG THAT WHILE SHAVING AND AT THE SAME TIME OUR CAMP WAS RAINED WITH BULLETS AND SHELLS, I DON'T THINK HE MEANT THAT IT'S ALL PEACHY AND SMOOTH GOING. BUT YES, WE'RE DOING DECENTLY."

"I don't see Cherubim accompanying you. Where is it?"

"I'M NOT VERY SURE ABOUT WHAT THE HIGHER UPS ORDERED IT; ALL I KNOW IS THAT IT HAD BEEN DETAILED WITH A 'PREVENTIVE' MEASURE." Since Cherubim, along with the ships under its command, were considered independent contractors, they didn't fall into his chain of command. But he was sure that the missions had something to do with taking care of the O'Neil colonies scattered around Earth. Report indicated that at least two of them had been used to house Geshmeidig Panzer used to redirect the giant beam that killed Gilbert. "BUT I GUESS IT'S THE SAME CASE WITH ZAFT."

"Yes. We're shorthanded here as well. I had to split the force into two."

"SOME WILL ATTACK AND SOME WILL DEFEND PLANTS, IS IT?"

"We have to be careful in case LOGOS send out the Mirage Colloid-equipped ships again.

"I WOULDN'T WORRY ABOUT THAT. SUCH SHIPS ARE EXPENSIVE AFTER ALL, ESPECIALLY SINCE IT REQUIRES A LARGE AMOUNT OF THAT SUBSTANCE TO BE MANUFACTURED. HOWEVER, I DO UNDERSTAND THE REAL REASONING AND REALLY APPRECIATE THAT YOU'RE THINKING ABOUT PLANTS' RESIDENTS' WELFARE."

"I have no choice. It has to be shown to everyone there that there's at least someone who will defend them in case something unexpected happens, even though that was what exactly happened. Few of the ships weren't manned at all as their crews were caught in the gamma radiation. However, we don't have enough manpower to operate them."

"GIANT SCARECROWS FOR EVERYONE TO SEE?"

"Sadly, yes."

"DON'T WORRY. WE'LL GET THROUGH THIS ORDEAL."

"I hope so."

"I DON'T WANT TO BRING THIS UP, BUT I THINK YOUR NEW CAPTAIN LOOKS TOO MUCH LIKE TALIA GLADYS"

"Maybe that's because I am Talia Gladys," the captain, sitting in her chair answered.

Mark raised his eyebrows. "WELL, I GUESS THERE SHOULD BE A VERY INTERESTING STORY BEHIND THIS…"

Lacus simply smiled. "There is. But the abridged version is that because all of us are in this together, it's better to forgive and forget. Besides Captain Talia is quite experienced with this ship, so I guess there's no problem."

"WELL, I'M FINE WITH IT, BUT CAPTAIN TALIA…"

"Yes?"

"NO HARD FEELINGS, OKAY?"

Talia glanced at Heine before shruggin. "No. I am a professional soldier after all." She didn't have any problem whatsoever working with people whom, a prior week before, were denounced as traitors to PLANTs but due to the situation had become saviors. Despite being put off by their actions which led to Minerva's capture, she could understand their reasoning though she didn't have to accept the fact. But despite the cool façade that she put up, she hadn't gotten over her secret lover's death.

The Minerva's captain could still remember the day she found out as it was very fresh on her mind. She was walking around the rather spacious though hardly comfortable cell to alleviate the boredom she was feeling when the door opened and Attha, of all people came into the room. Talia was half-expecting for the girl to announce that she would be put on trial for war crimes and thus was unprepared when the latter merely told her quietly that she was free to go. She did remember doing a double take and asking Attha to repeat it. And repeat she did, along with the explanation that almost rocked Talia's emotional foundation.

It took most of Talia's willpower not to break down and cry when she learned that Gilbert was killed in the attack. However, the safety of her son took precedence. Her family was living in Aprillius On. To her utter relief, Attha managed to confirm that he, along with her husband were alive. Somehow, her husband had a business trip in another colony and decided to bring their son along. Talia didn't really love her husband and they had only married out of necessity to produce offspring that would be fertile. However, she was grateful to him for his decision.

And there she was, transferred back to her ship with some of its original crew and was put under Lacus' command. She had learned that there was a plan to train a totally new crew but that had been shelved given the current situation. However, Heine and Meyrin remained onboard along with some Terminal members. It didn't matter much to her but she found out that the security protocols had been totally replaced.

"And I believe that everyone else here feels the same," she continued.

Of course, when she decided who would join her, Talia conveniently decided to leave out Arthur as she didn't know how he would react to seeing Meyrin and Heine; it was Meyrin who shot him with a rubber baton.

Mark smiled. "VERY WELL, I LOOK FORWARD TO WORKING WITH YOU ON OUR SIDE."

"Me too."

"WELL THEN, LACUS, CAPTAIN TALIA, SEE YOU LATER," he said as he signed off.

"Lady Clyne?" Talia asked for confirmation.

"I'm leaving the command of this ship and its mobile suits in your hands," Lacus said as she went entered some orders into the console in front of her. "Our fleet will coordinate with ORB and Confederation's in the upcoming attack."

"Understood." While normal military doctrine would suggest all military forces to really combine their might, Talia knew that they couldn't do it as there was a risk of friendly fires during battle. They could change the IFFs, as well as put some kind of markings on their mobile suits and ships but that would only work in theory; once the fight broke out, the inclination to check the target's identity would be suppressed by the instinctual need to survive. It was better to simply assign different mission objectives to each side and ZAFT was tasked with suppression of LOGOS' mobile suit defense. "Meyrin, are Destiny and Legend ready to go?"

"Yes, Captain."

"Good. As Lady Clyne had planned, the two of them will lead the incursion that will draw out LOGOS forces." Meanwhile, their Confederation allies would be attacking LOGOS known support bases in preparation for ORB's assault."

* * *

"God exists and I should probably pray to him." Shinn remarked. "That's the only thing that I can think of to explain my fucked up life." 

"Destiny, please prepare for launch," Meyrin announced over the intercom.

"Roger," he acknowledged. The mobile suit slowly moved toward the linear catapult. "Athrun alternates being an enemy and a friend so many times that it hurts my head thinking about it," he grumbled. Of course, working with Athrun didn't really hurt his head; working with _him _did. He remembered telling that Kira, no, he refused to call that person by first name, Yamato guy that he wouldn't to have anything to do with him but events forced his hands. They would fly together as allies and instead of kicking Yamato's butt, he had to watch it.

"What the heck, I guess maybe next I'll become attracted to tomboys or something… what the heck I'm saying? They could never compare to _her._" An image of Stellar entered his mind and Shinn made a promise to visit her grave after everything ended. At the worst case scenario, he would join her in the after world, if there was such thing. His meeting her was also another irony by itself. There he was, about to launch to fight against the very man responsible for the encounter.

"Destiny, you're cleared for launched." Meyrin's voice brought him out of reverie.

"Understood. Destiny, moving out." He pushed the throttle to the maximum and then engaged the catapult. The ZAFT mobile suit was propelled out of Minerva at great speed. After it had cleared out of the ship, it fell into formation with the rest of the mobile suits.

"Shinn, please remember that this is a very significant battle, one that might determine everyone's future." Athrun said over the communication line.

"_Commander_, I'm sorry if I give you the impression that I'm very stupid," he replied, stressing over the first word to remind Athrun that the man didn't have any power over him. He didn't know why Athrun always treated him that way; it was as if the man considered him like a brother. Shinn smacked his helmet as he recalled the conversation he had with Athrun on Minerva a few months before; the man had remarked that Shinn was a brat of a brother that he never had. A genuine smile appeared on his lips. "Besides, it would my job to make sure that you don't have those nasty LOGOS bugs after you."

"Well, if you feel that way, don't come crying to me when you have a boo boo." Athrun replied to his jest.

"As if."

"Freedom, Justice, prepare for the deployment of FALCON," Mir's voice interjected.

"Roger." Athrun said as he moved away.

"FALCON?" Shinn asked.

"The acronym stands for 'Frontal Assault Launcher, Combat Operation 'N'forcer'," Lunamaria answered as Impulse, armed with Crush Silhouette, took the vector Justice left. "A mobile battle station similar to METEOR."

Shinn nodded as he watched a fifty-meter long spacecraft moving slowly behind Justice. Meanwhile a small shuttle that formed its nose section disengaged. Then, the rest of the fuselage began to transfigure, with the ship-class beam cannons that were next to the nose section moved further to the sides, creating an opening that Justice entered.

"As you can see, unlike METEOR that can only be used by mobile suit or mounted onboard Eternal, FALCON can also function as a mobile armor, with that aircraft controlling it. In mobile armor mode, it has two operators, one as a pilot and another one as a gunner."

"You're telling me ZAFT has such weapons? Why didn't I know about it?" Shinn asked.

"Not ZAFT, Terminal. Although it is METEOR's successor, it's not really based on latter. Instead, Terminal managed to get a draft of SIREN's blueprint."

The wings moved upward until they were at thirty degrees angle and then moved toward Justice.

"And I also haven't seen this… SIREN."

"The module was destroyed during the training exercise, along with the prototype mobile suit designed to use it," Rey's voice invaded the conversation suddenly.

"Uh… Rey?" Lunamaria tested. She had known from Athrun that despite Shinn's 'I'm-the-emotional-jackass-who's-hung-over-the-pink-cellphone' attitude, the man was quite forgiving and didn't have any problem with anyone as long as he or she didn't go by any one of those names: Kira Yamato, Djibril, Neo or Nuzumi Attha. However, Rey was a different story as even when they were in the academy, Rey seemed to have an out-of-this-world aura around him. She wasn't sure whether he held grudge against everyone. However, she was sure he admired Gilbert and the death of the man would certainly affect him. "Are you all right?"

"Let me make it clear to you that while I don't care what you and everyone did, I care for Djibril even lesser." Rey answered a bit coldly. "As long we cover each other backs, I'm fine with the current arrangement."

"Wait, you said about the prototype mobile suit. Are you referring to that experimental ZAKU?" Shinn asked in a rather obvious effort to change the topic.

"What are you talking about? That's so far off, especially in looks. I remember them calling it…." Lunamaria stopped as she realized something.

"They call it what?" Shinn intoned.

"Providence-Freedom," Athrun answered as his mobile suit had finished reconfiguring. "By the way, Rey, the current situation also suits me fine. Now back to the mobile suit in reference. It had changed significantly that name didn't fit anymore and its current combat abilities are very different from the original design."

"Oh, really? How so?" Shinn questioned.

"You should know best about that fact, Shinn," Rey said, "since you have fought against it personally."

Meanwhile, in another place,

"I hate it when that Frenchie Jacques right." Barzhakov muttered as he watched at the tactical map on the main screen. "I wonder if that Robinson knows about this."

"Probably not," Elizabeth answered. "After all, he's the military commander the_new_ Confederation, not the corrupt old guard of the Eurasian. I think even your best friend and Ivanov hated having to deal with this mess."

"True enough."

"Captain. I think it's time for you to say something to our fleet."

"Very well," Barzhakov said as he cleared his throat before pressing the transponder. "Let our fleet beat the twit's fleet, slit the shits, split the sheep, spit the squids, quit if hit," he said as fast as he could. "That's all. Good luck and god speed, dipshits," he continued before terminating the line.

"You're telling our fleet _that_ before a very important battle?" Enishi asked incredulously. "A tongue twister?"

"Well, 'The war shall see shells on the thy's whore' doesn't really cut the mustard, not that it really matters. This battle isn't supposed to happen and of course, wouldn't appear in the future textbooks that the teachers would force the students to memorize."

"Captain," Sammy interrupted, "the enemy fleet is launching a missile barrage at us"

"Tell our force to retaliate as well."

Hundreds of intelligent but yet emotionless sought out their respective preys in the vast ocean of darkness and silence. Only sparks and explosions appearing from each side signaled that there was a battle in progress. Despite able to be shot down easily, both fleets chose missiles for start the engagement because of their ability to be redirected at will unlike beam shots which were basically hit-or-miss affair.

Once the missiles were expended though, beam shots exchange began as mobile suits took off, flying in formations, directives made clear and enemies had been pointed out. Everyone there, be it the Confederation or their traitorous brethrens knew that even as they fought, even as they died in the middle of that vast silence, there would be another battle being fought elsewhere. Unfortunately, unlike that battle which would surely be immortalized and romanticized by the future generations forever, their fight, like unsightly dirt, would only be swept under the proverbial carpet. But at that time they didn't care as their only concern was to survive the whole ordeal.

Onboard Cherubim, Razak was made final check on everything displayed on his consoles. "Diagnostic is complete. Quantum communication checked, Zwiling Lanze Unit One to Six, all A's and B's checked. AURORA Unit One to Six fully functional as well. All systems green."

"Thanks," Terrence said. "Lim, projected increase."

The Chinese technician made a short search and read the result, "Base on the current condition: firepower, six hundred twenty four percent, reflective protection seventy two, reactive protection, twenty three, mobility, minus forty three, acceleration, minus fifty six."

"Exchange a heel with another heel, eh?" Terrence sighed, referring to the mythological warrior by the name of Achilles who was invincible but had a weak spot at its heel. Like the warrior, Fallen could be considered quite powerful but suffered from a major weakness: lack of armor. That wasn't because of the design faults but due to its designation as an 'assassin' mobile suit; thus it was more suited to taking out one Destiny or perhaps even Strike Freedom at a time and not fending off hordes of 'grunts' who might have a higher chance of landing a lucky shot at it. Activating Plume de Lune's full capacity might help but Terrence wasn't sure that Fllay could handle the stress in a prolonged battle, despite Fallen's inner cockpit actively rotating and gyrating to dampen the hi-g force caused by the mobile suit's maneuvering.

That was where the unit he was watching being loaded into the linear catapult come into play. Once launched, the unit would merge with Fallen, forming what Terrence dubbed as 'Full Armor' as the result of the merger would basically fit the concept he had dreamed off when he started on the project 'Fallen' three years ago. The young designer smiled. Even a year before he was an immature brat, thinking that designing a mobile suit to kill other people was something cool. How the time changed.

"Why are you having that smile while looking at me, Terrence?" Razak asked. "You're giving me the creeps."

"Buzz off dumbass. I wasn't smiling at you but rather at a fond memory that thankfully doesn't have you in it."

"So are you going to push that button or continue smiling like an idiot and let me do it?"

"Whatever. Let's get this show on the road," he said as he activated the linear catapult. "Meta-SIREN, GO!"

* * *

1

* * *

**Author's note (7th February 2008)**

1. Well, another lunar year of the rat descends upon us and Happy Chinese New Year!

2. Here we have Shinn refusing to refer Kira by his first name. It's a subtle gesture that they would never become friendly. In other societies, we use first name to refer to anyone but in some such as Japanese, you have to really know that person (and granted the permission to do so by the said person) in order to call him or her by first name. This also explains why Shinn insisted for Kira to call him Asuka in the chapter 'Dawn of Bloody Sky'. It was a way of telling him off and not to get too chummy.

3. Now, based on biology, there is a high probability that Coordinators are weaker against radiation compared to Naturals. It is a double-edge sword, in a sense. Higher healing, but more prone to radiation. This revelation is pretty ironic to me. Initially I was going to write Coordinators as being more resilient against radiation, so I look up articles on cockroaches(really!) since they were said to be more resilient against radiation. My findings told me that they are, but not due to genetic reason. Cockroach' body cells divide in a seven days cycle, with each division cycle taking two days. So, there is a higher chance of the cockroach surviving the radiation if not exposed to it during the division cycle. Chemotheraphy uses this principle as cancerous cells would normally divide faster than normal ones and thus a well-time radiation would kill them (of course, with some of the unfortunate normal cells that were also in the middle of division at the time of treatment. With this basis, Coordinators, Kira included and also APEXes (includes Fllay), are weaker indeed against nuclear bomb. I don't know whether the writer really research this kind of thing (IMHO, the rather substandard intelligence she displayed which is akin to a gerbil, I don't think so), but it seems to validate the fact that the best weapon of mass destruction against Coordinators would be nuclear weapons.

4.I'm rather glad that Gundam 00 came out later or else I would find few my ideas becoming outdated. For example, in one of the episodes, the enemy used a maneuver a bit similar to what I envisioned in chapter 'The fall of Freedom' when Fllay executed a maneuver grab Freedom, propel them to Archangel and then land on that ship. Anyway, watching the anime, my favorite scenes would be ones that involve Graham Acre. Somehow, seeing this guy, piloting an upgraded grunt mobile suit kicking the rather omnipotent Gundams around excites me. Heck, if I'm the one directing GS and GSD, Kira would be a Natural piloting less powerful mobile suits (but way better than grunts of course), but in place of that would be a display of his awesome piloting skill. Oh well, I'm not the director… which is why this story exist.

5. The firepower's percentage increased significantly because Fallen simply have lesser firepower. Discounting CIWS and other close range weapons, it had only a beam machinegun. So, if we add just one more beam rifle, it constitutes a hundred percent increase in firepower. But if you add the same rifle to Freedom, it would be less than ten percent increase as it already has two rifles, two railguns, one beam cannons and eight DRAGOON units (which brings the total to thirteen weapons).


	59. Future

Lacus stood, even though she knew that she could remain sitting. The facts, predictions, strategies were already at her finger tips but yet she felt nervous and oppressed, as if the weight of the world was on her shoulders. She was involved in the previous war as a commander of her own ship and knew first-hand how bad it could be. However, that didn't stop the gnawing feeling.

She knew exactly what it was that caused her to feel that way; she was about to issue the order. On her words, on her whim, she would send thousands of people to their deaths while at the same time creating grief in countless others; parents, children, lovers, friends who mere words of condolence couldn't comfort. Someone might have told her that she did the same thing in the first war but it wasn't true. All she did was command Eternal and be responsible for its crew. The ship and its mobile suits, although was involved in the battle, was a fence sitter which inflicted attrition on both sides. The pressure was different. At the present moment, she was leading the attack, playing the role of the instigator, not the idealistic interjector who thought that she was doing the right thing.

"Captain, all preparations have been completed." Talia announced.

"Thank you. Tell all ships to prepare for main battery deployment. Tell all mobile suits to began moving after the bombardment ends"

How naïve of her.

Not more than few days she was given the command of ZAFT, Lacus had already begun questioning whether what her group did had helped in bringing about the current situation. It wasn't just one time that due to Terminal or Archangel's intervention ZAFT had suffered a setback. Perhaps, if they didn't, then there would be more ZAFT ships that could have participated in the current assault.

Perhaps.

But then she remembered that it was her who told Cagalli to first decide and then follow through the decision. There was no use crying over something that could have happened; the best thing was to make do with what she had. Later, if she survived, Lacus would look back at the decisions she made but not that at that particular moment. She had a very important goal to achieve and if it involved tainting her hands with the blood of the soldiers under her command as well as her enemies' then so be it. The war had consumed far too many lives and decisive action must be taken to end it.

"Commence firing."

* * *

A black with red trimming mobile suit waltzed through the battlefield, evading numerous shots aimed at it. There were triangle-shaped pods each affixed to its arms, hips and shins. Its normally movable HiMAT-like that lent it unrivaled agility were folded and was stored inside two wings extenders that would redirect most of the wings thrust in a single vector as opposed to the previous setting. However, the loss of maneuverability was offset by the three Zwiling Lanze units, each one looked like two elongated DRAGOON pods put together, carried by each wing extender.

While the previous unit had a somewhat divine aura despite its dark paint scheme, the current one had a more devilish feel to it. The design was merely accidental as no enemy pilot would be merely intimidated by appearance alone. They weren't dark-ages warriors who cringed at something demonic looking; they only care for anything that could threaten them.

For example, the fact that it had killed four of those unfortunate or foolish enough to get into its way.

Fllay took a deep breath as her grey eyes tracked two enemy Windams that moved to Fallen's back, obviously thinking that they would be out of her peripheral vision and thus cannot be targeted. But Fallen had no such limitation. With just a gesture by her eyes and emphasized by the movement of her helmet, Fllay changed the view to behind her. Once the targeting computer had acquired the targets two Zwiling Lanze disengaged and sped toward their individual preys. The two mobile suits tried to move away but the Zwiling Lanze units were already upon them and open fired. Fllay almost shifted her focus away but there was something that prevented her from doing so. Her gut feeling was proven correct when her two opponents emerged unscathed, each one being surrounded by a globe of energy.

Before she could think further, an alarm vied for her attention and she quickly responded by changing her view. Three more were approaching from her left. She quickly let lose a steady burst of beam shots at them. One succumbed but the other two soldiered on, unfazed with the shots as they also had lightwave shields protecting them.

This was probably unexpected by even Barzhakov. When the said captain briefed all of the pilots, he told them that the traitors had deserted right before the announcement on LOGOS by Gilbert came about. Thus, they should be a bunch of starved, ill-equipped rag tags who were scrounging at the bottom of the barrel; not the coordinated fighting force they were.

Two of Fallen's triangular pods launched themselves and moved to intercept beam shots aimed at it. Once they had carried out their respective task, they returned back to recharge while another two took up the slack. Fllay noted that the triangular pods, designated as 'Autonomous Units Rapid Orbital Radiation Assimilators' or AURORA in short, were doing quite well in absorbing the shots. It wouldn't be too much of a stretch to say that if all units were deployed simultaneously, they could even block a positron blast.

However, they, along with their beam rifle counterpart Zwiling Lanze, suffered from flaws as well. While being more nimble than other DRAGOON units that could include Strike Freedom's Super DRAGOONs, they had lower autonomous time and needed to be recharged frequently. To counteract that, all of the units wouldn't be used simultaneously, with some units would always be on standby. Besides, it was just like what Terrence reminded her so many times that it bored her to death; she had to control each one of them using her brainwaves. Without the semi-automated or even fully automated systems that other mobile suits such as Providence and Strike Freedom used, controlling all of them at once would be beyond even the famous Kira Yamato.

Fallen stored its MPG2-5-2 beam machine gun at the back and grabbed one of the Saitenwaffe beam swords. It then lunged and attacked its closest opponent with the sword, only to have the attack stopped by lightwave barrier.

"Heh, what are you going to do now, bastard?" an unknown male voice chirped through the Eurasian channel, probably the pilot of the mobile suit.

Fllay narrowed her eyes. Fallen retreated a bit while reaching for one of the armor penetrators underneath the arm holding the sword. Before her adversary could figure out what it was about to do, Fallen slashed through the lightwave barrier, the armor penetrator creating a rip through the otherwise perfect sphere. Taking advantage of the opening, it then attacked its enemy once more using its Saitenwaffe. With no barrier to protect the mobile suit, the sword smashed through the its cockpit easily, killing the pilot inside. Fallen quickly withdrew its sword and moved away before the Windam exploded.

"Why do I fig… uggh…," she grunted as her head felt as if it was being stabbed by knives; unbidden images assailed her already strained mind. The distraction caused her to be slow in reacting to an attack; it singed Fallen's right foot. "I'm going to fight," she answered, despite the one who asked her that question could no longer hear her. She could feel that the future, her darkest phantasm was being born into reality right in front of her very eyes despite her current efforts. "I have to…," her grip on the joysticks tightened, "…because I'm too scared to even think of stopping."

The black and red mobile suit sped up to engage its next opponent.

* * *

Even though the base shook from combined force's bombardment, Djibril stood unfazed. After all, he was the proud leader of the most powerful organization in the world and the one who managed to kill the ever wily Gilbert, an achievement that surpassed Azrael's. There was no way he would simply bow to the fools who thought that they would prevail against him. "Tell me," he said simply to the general next to him.

The general nodded. "As you ordered, we have moved most of our Arzachel's force here. However, we received a report from the base that it is fighting Robinson's fleet. From the report, it is predicted that unless we send reinforcements, the base will fall."

"Denied. We also have our own concerns here. If that base falls, it'll be their fault for being too incompetent to even defend the base properly." Djibril's reply had basically condemned Arzachel's defenders to a certain defeat. "Enough about them. I want to know about our side."

"The bombardment had caused section V2, L4 and D8 of the base to collapse. Currently we have 53 dead as well 176…"

"I don't care about that. Just tell me about our preparation to get rid of that Clyne whore."

"Er, yes. Despite the setbacks we faced as regards to the OS, we're finally ready to field our newest mass-produced mobile suit," the general said.

"Show me."

"Yes."

The closest screen to Djibril changed to show schematics of a mobile suit. He looked at it and his face changed into displeasure. "Do you think I'm stupid? This is just a Windam."

The general mentally insulted Djibril's inability to distinguish mobile suits; he didn't dare say them out loud. "It's not just a Windam, Lord Djibril, it's Super Windam."

"You modified a Windam and give it a 'super' designation?" Djibril asked sarcastically. "Should we broadcast about its name to Clyne so that she would be scared shitless?"

"I assure you, Lord Djibril, its performance wouldn't disappoint you." Despite the name and the appearance, the mobile suit actually differed a lot from Windam that it could be considered as a completely different mobile suit. The name 'Super Windam' was given to the project in order to convince the LOGOS funders that it would involved modifying existing Windam design instead of coming up with a new one.

Taller than a Windam, it was a two-seater mobile suit with gunnery controls separated from piloting. Instead of the heavy and cumbersome shield Windam carried, the Super Windam had a torso mounted lightwave barrier emitter, allowing it to block frontal beam shots. Data collected from numerous battles suggested that Alliance pilots were slow in protecting the main body even though they were equipped with a shield. The lightwave barrier absolved them of the need to do it manually. Plus, with the heavy shield not needed, a Super Windam was free to carry another weapon; it carried a beam shotgun for use in short range encounters. All in all, it would certainly be more than a match than even a GOUF United.

"Who'll be piloting them?"

"The _Academy_'s graduates." The 'Academy' was a reference to one of LOGOS' anti-Coordinator initiatives that involved training Naturals from a very young age to become soldiers. Some of them even ended up serving under the elite Phantom Pain brigade. While nowhere as powerful as pumped-up Extendeds and violent-prone ACCURSEDs, they could certainly go against normal Coordinators pilots in their highly automated mobile suits.

"I see. Very well. I'll trust your words on this one."

The general swallowed hard, knowing that his head would roll if anything went wrong.

* * *

They watched with morbid fascination as the ZAFT fleet bombarded the target area. Despite the ships were firing at their enemies, it couldn't be denied that the enemies were humans just like them no matter how inhumane they acted.

"Shinn." Rey called over the personal channel out of the blue.

"Yeah?"

"This is not the place to ask, but why do you fight?"

"Huh? That is a weird question."

Well?"

It was the wrong time and place to ask the question as they were in the middle of a battle. However, Shinn could almost sense the hopelessness in his roommate's voice. He wondered whether that was why the blonde pilot kept giving him an unreadable look the night before. Taking a deep breath, Shinn said, "I felt helpless at that time… when I found my sister's mangled arm."

"You wanted revenge?"

"Yes. I wanted to kill those responsible for my family's deaths. I desperately wanted the power to punish, the power to punish the oppressors…"

"But…"

"At Azores I learned that I am an oppressor myself. After that I thought about it and…" Shinn was quiet for a while. "Promise me that this conversation remains between us only."

"I will."

Shinn was silent once more. "Despite how much I wanted to deny, despite how much the difference that I tried to find, despite our objectives and reasons for going to war… I think I have a lot of things in common with _him._"

"Him?" Rey asked back, his voice revealing that he knew the referred person.

"We're both hypocrites. I want the power to stop those who abuse theirs; he fights to stop the fighting. It sounds so idealistic but what both of us are doing is actually adding fuel to fire." He left out another reason why he tried so hard to hate Kira. The moment he accepted they had much in common, he would lose a part of his will to fight and he didn't want that to happen just yet.

"But both of you still fight."

"I don't know about him but for me, I now fight because I don't want PLANTs… and me to lose anything anymore."

"You don't fight for peace or to end the fighting?"

"No."

"You're not as idiotic as I thought."

"What was that?" Shinn growled in annoyance.

"Listen, Shinn. I am a clone."

Shinn's expression was completely indescribable. "What the heck with the sudden and absurd proclamation?"

"I'm not. I was born and grew up in a lab."

The Destiny's pilot stared at Rey who returned the gaze. He realized that his roommate was not the one to joke around, especially if it was something serious. "Then… that's why at the laboratory in Londoniba…"

Rey nodded. "Something like returning home, though it's not. Thank you Shinn."

"What for?" the raven-haired pilot asked as the last beam shot had been fired. Once the bombardment ended, their mission would begin.

"I had doubted my reason for fighting. I always thought that it's for Gilbert and thus found my resolve shaken when he died. But thanks to you, I now know what I must do."

"Why you're telling me this?"

"Perhaps I'm a selfish person and wanted someone to remember me in case something happens… just like I will remember Gilbert for the rest of my life."

"Rey…"

"Incoming missiles," Meyrin announced suddenly over network. "Getting a read on the total…"

"Well?" Shinn asked.

"I can't get an accurate reading. They must be using some sort of distortion transponders… we're registering over so many missiles that the radar couldn't keep up"

"It is impossible that they have that so many missiles. Can't you people do something about that? Maybe frequency hopping?" Radar-fooling transponders worked by creating erroneous signals that are on the same frequencies as the radar's, duping it into believing that the fake signals originated from it. A counter measure to such devices would be to change the radar signals to different frequencies from time to time, called frequency hopping by those in the know.

"I don't think it will work, Shinn." Rey interrupted. "They do know that we have to calibrate the signals between ships so that the radar pulses wouldn't contradict each other. Thus, we can't use frequency hopping even if we want to."

Meyrin nodded. "We're sending Team Hahnenfuss and Team Haagen to get visuals as well as form the first wall. Destiny, Legend and Impulse will form the second and the rest will form the third one. Hopefully by the time if any missiles go through, it would be taken care by the ships' CIWS."

"That weirdo trio?" Shinn asked.

"I don't think that Commander Haagen…," Meyrin trailed off as several large fireballs erupted across the horizon. "Wait a second," she said as she disappeared for few seconds. When she reappeared, she had a look of panic on her face. "We lost Team Haagen! Team Hahnenfuss reported there are several unmarked nuclear missiles among the normal missiles. Impulse, Destiny and Legend, your order has been changed. Your first priority is to identify and eliminate the nuclear missiles before they could get to our main forces. Make sure that none of them gets through."

"Understood." Rey said. "Lunamaria, Shinn, let's go."

"OK!" the two chorused while the three are moving toward the indicated destination.

* * *

"They're mines?" Athrun asked. "But for a mere minefield to even have such a sophisticated jamming system, it's unheard of."

"As if it's that easy," Mwu replied. "You're looking at one of the results of a decade of military built-up: killer satellites."

"Killer satellites?"

"Yeah. You see, that bastard has a superiority complex and like to go around boasting about his and LOGOS' achievements. I guess the only reason why I didn't know about the gigantic beam cannon was because I didn't stick around long enough. Well, you can say that they're no match for mobile suits but they're cheaper than a mobile armor and can remain operational for a long time."

"But this many?"

"Djibril once told me that he admired Stalin, the dictator of what used to be Soviet Union and that guy was known for saying that 'quantity has a quality by its own'"

"Wait, Mwu." Kira interjected. "They have been preparing for a decade. What do you mean by that?"

"I guess it's like what Dullindal said: LOGOS perpetuates wars for economic reason."

Kira bristled upon hearing that statement. "Then this war is beneficial to them?"

"Economics involves changing a resource to another form," Athrun commented. "But they could have used it for something else rather than creating more and more weapons. Resources are limited, you know."

"To Djibril, we do have an overabundant resource that it is a waste not to use it."

Kira thought for a moment. "Humans," he concluded.

"Correct. According to a report that I read, even after the first war, LOGOS estimated that we have an estimated seven billion people on Earth and PLANTs though the figure would surely have decreased after the colony drop which also triggered this war."

"Perhaps that explains why Alliance, no LOGOS's military as well as ZAFT's aren't as high tech as ORB's and Terminal's."

"Isn't that's obvious? Their tech level isn't as high." Mwu said.

"Wrong." Athrun said. "The difference is there but not much. Remember that ZAFT and LOGOS have more resources than ORB and Terminal. For example, ZAFT could easily produce more than twenty Justice or Freedoms rather than hundreds of ZAKUs. But the question is why didn't they do it?"

"Matching Djibril's numberical game," Kira replied. "If we consider what Mwu said regarding the wars being an economic effort, it seems that LOGOS wants to ensure that their human resource is utilized fully. So they purposely manufacture cheaper and weaker mobile suits but in a higher number than ZAFT's so that they can throw as many lives as they can into the wars while trying to ensure that their objective to eradicate Coordinators can be achieved."

"Yup, matches his comment about idle hands being devil's plaything," Mwu agreed.

"As for ZAFT, despite the technological advantage they have, eventually the numerical strength would overwhelm their force. So they also had to resort to the same tactic." Athrun said. "But I don't see why they only used it now but not during the first war."

"There is no such thing as LOGOS in the first war, remember? Only Blue Cosmos."

"Maybe that's what Creuset said when he said that GENESIS's attack will trigger another round of violence. If the attack on Earth succeeded, LOGOS would have joined the war earlier."

"I myself was wondering how the Alliance, especially the Atlantic Federation managed to rebuild their military strength in just a short time. But regardless, we have to stop Djibril," Kira said. "And we have to stop him today."

Strike Freedom and Infinite Justice moved forward. Inside their each respective cockpit, multiple triangles appeared as targets are being acquired visually.

"Going through this field would require a lot of time," Kira announced to three squadrons of Murasames behind them. "And the enemy also knows that we're here so we have to push our way. We'll proceed as planned."

Finally the computers onboard Strike Freedom and Infinite Justice stop registering any new target. Then multiple compartment doors on Athrun and Kira's FALCONs' slid open, revealing the missiles in their pylons.

"Begin!" Kira said to his friend.

Missiles streaked out of their nests and slithered across the murky distance like predators searching for their victims. However, their preys fought back with calculated and automated ferocity; not few of them were destroyed. But still they soldiered on with the first missile crashed through the nearest satellite but didn't explode as its trigger malfunctioned. However, the resulting impact damaged the satellite's firing control CPU while few of the resulting debris scratched its tracker lens. Disabled, the satellite wouldn't be a threat anymore but no one told that fact to another missile that was trailing the first one. The missile slammed into the satellite and the results marked the beginning of a series of explosions.

"Athrun would approach from the left while I'll take the right," Kira said.

"And the hero of the story gets to come through the front door and kicked his enemies' butts." Mwu announced haughtily. "Seems like a good script."

"If you do write, make sure you mention about the hero getting slapped silly by his girl," Athrun said.

"Party pooper," Mwu said as Justice and Freedom lead their teams to their respective vectors. "It may be me, but Kira's been acting slightly off," he said to himself as he began blasting his way through the death field. "It's a bit funny that the turnaround occurred after that gir…," he stopped as everything clicked into place. There must be something that happened between the two of them. He remembered meeting the girl running to her mobile suit in the wee hour of morning few weeks ago. That must be it.

A single satellite that managed to survive until then rotated itself to get a fix at Mwu's mobile suit but a shot pierced through its beam lens.

It was unbecoming for Mwu think about _things_ during a battle they could distract him. For example, the kiss Murrue gave him and the _dessert_ that she promised him when he return made him feel a bit…

"No, I must concentrate on the battle, not unzipping that tight uniform…"

The surviving pilots underneath his command would later tell tales of him performing various maneuvers in dodging the attacks on him and attributing it to his skills; the truth that he was a bit distracted by his overactive imagination. Nevertheless, his team managed to clear out a sector without a single casualty.

Unfortunately, just as Mwu was about to commend his squadron on a job well done, two of them were vaporized by beam shots.

"It has been a while since we last met, Colonel Lornoke, or do you go by your original name, Mwu La Fllaga now?" a polite male voice drawled over the air.

"Your voice sounds familiar to me…," Mwu said as he eyed newcomers to the scene. Among them was a modified Forbidden in its close combat mode. With the rest of the group consisting of slightly bigger and better equipped Windams, he came to the conclusion that the Forbidden's pilot was the leader. "Who are you?"

"Hmm… There is a slight error in my calculation. Following my extraction from your team, it is to be expected that Sting, Stellar and Auel's memory of me would be erased. However, it seems that Lord Djibril ordered for your memory to be erased as well."

There was a brief flash in Mwu's mind as forgotten memories sprung forth. "You are…"

"Stephen Hilbert, a former member of the Extendeds group under your command. However, now I'm to be known as the person who will kill you."

"Heh, I remember you being an emotionless guy. At least I can see that your assignment was to protect Djibril," the Hawk of Endymion said he let loose a few shots.

Stephen's Forbidden swerved out of the way. "Interesting. How do you know?"

"His arrogance had rubbed off on you," Mwu answered as Shizuka's targeting reticule changed to indicate that he had acquired a lock-on on his opponent's mobile suit. "Got you!" he said as he pressed the trigger. Like guided missiles, Shizuka's remote units surrounded the Forbidden and opened fired. To his disbelieve, all of the shots were deflected away, with one of them almost hitting Shizuka. Fortunately he had moved out of the way just in time. "Damn."

"According to the data I have on your mobile suit, it is supposed to be able to absorb that shot. Why didn't you let it hit your mobile suit?"

"Maybe I feel like it," Fllaga said as Shizuka reconfigured into mobile suit mode.

"Perhaps it's because you're mounting different equipments? If that's the case, then you winning against me have just become simply impossible." Forbidden brought out its Nidhoggr heavy scythe into play.

Mwu gritted his teeth. Stephen's words were right on target. The Akatsuki beam refraction system was only available on A-01 Fujin module, not S-09 Raijin module currently attached to Shizuka. The only protection that the module offered was a small lightwave barrier shield that was only accessible in mobile suit mode. But if he really wanted to play safe, he would have selected the RC-07 Hachiman module that could generate a very large barrier but had almost no offensive capability. "I think that they also meddled with your mind. If not, you would have remembered my nickname."

"Perhaps. But do enlighten me."

Shizuka suddenly engaged its boosters and accelerated toward Forbidden. The ruse caught Stephen by surprise and he tried to swing Forbidden's Nidhoggr at it. Mwu blocked the heavy weapon, aimed Shizuka's beam rifle at Forbidden' chest and opened fire. Only Stephen's quick thinking saved allowed him to transform Forbidden into its close combat mode and deflect the shot just in time. "That would be: 'The man who make the impossible possible'"

"You… you bastard!"

"Oh, now you also have his temper as well."

* * *

Athrun, together with his team was flying toward their target when his radar registered numerous hostiles. Once they got into viewing range, he recognized one of them. "Duel."

"It's been a while since we met each other," the Duel's pilot remarked while shooting at Athrun's FALCON's left wing, setting off the ordnances mounted there. "The name's Farah Igniz, by the way. I find that it's rather strange that we're trying to color death with each other's blood without really knowing each other's name... opps, you're quite well known, Athrun Zala"

"Thank you but I'm no mood to deal with you," Athrun said as he grappled with the controls to stabilize his aircraft. Finally realizing that it was futile, he ejected his FALCON.

"Same here. The only one I care about is Destiny's pilot. Where is he?"

"Like I'm going to tell you," Athrun scoffed.

"It doesn't matter. I can sense that he's with the other fleet. Well, I'm off." Duel would have left but was prevented from doing so by Justice which obstructed its path. "What the heck is your problem?"

"I'm not letting you pass."

Duel gestured to the battles being fought between the Murasames under Athrun's command and the Super Windam under hers. "Look, I'm leaving more than enough henchmen to play with you, so there's no problem of becoming bored. Ah, you're worried that they might be weak. Makes sense. Don't worry, they're not your run-of-the-mill mobile suit grunts." As she said that, a Murasame, suffering from heavy damage crashed into her mobile suit. However, the Murasame pilot's final gambit didn't pan out as Duel emerged out of the ordeal unscathed because of its Phase Shift armor. "Come on, I'm already late. The nuclear attack be should finished by now. I want to get a jump on him if he's still alive"

"Nuclear… attack?"

"Yes, what do you think?" Duel turned to leave the place. "Well, see you later."

"Damn you!" Athrun shouted as he entered SEED state, triggered by his worry over Lunamaria's safety. Deciding that he wouldn't risk letting Duel go to her place, he fired off the EEQ8 Grappling Stinger extensional arrestor at Duel and managed to snag its left foot. Justice's right hand reached for the beam sword while yanking the LOGOS' mobile suit toward it.

Although caught by surprise, Farah calmly blocked Justice's attack with Duel's own beam saber. "Trying to force me to pay attention to you is a bit selfish, you know."

"I'm not going to let you harm her," Athrun said, steely edge hardening his voice.

"Huh? I thought that the Destiny's pilot is a man. Whatever, I'll play with you for a little while. But I have to warn you that you have made a big mistake in forcing me to fight you."

"I'm not scared of you."

"Of course you shouldn't." Duel reached for its other beam saber and used it to cut the arrestor cable.

"You're not getting away," Athrun said as Justice, with its leg-mounted Griffon beam blades activated, launched a kick aimed at Duel's head where it would severely disrupt its sensors. The attack was stopped by Duel's lightwave barrier, but Athrun managed to force it to drop one of its swords.

"Sigh. Very well, I'll play with you. But as I said before, you're making a big mistake. Not all satellites you destroyed just now were real killer satellites as some were merely dummies."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"I thought Coordinators are smart. Perhaps you're just human beings like us. You forgot that your mobile suit, similar to mine, is nuclear-powered."

"So? I know about that…" Athrun stopped as he felt fear gripping his heart. Because he was piloting Justice, he forgot that the rest of his strike force was using battery-powered Murasames. While he did a fair share in destroying the killer satellites, they also did their part. Because of that, they expended a lot of power. That would put them at a rather severe disadvantage compared to the LOGOS' grunts that had just sortied in order to deal with them.

"It's like a giant quicksand. Because the targets are larger than mines, most would think that blasting through the field is the best course of action," Farah said, echoing Athrun's thought. "But the further they entered the field, the harder it is for them to retreat until they finally ran out of power, making them quite easy targets. Justice's presence disrupted that calculation though. You would probably break through… if not for your forcing me to play with you."

"Wait, your mission is not to fight us?"

"Hmm? Ah, mission. That's what it was. I forgot about that," Farah chuckled. "I don't really care whether you kill Djibril or not; I only want to fight Destiny and Destiny alone."

Athrun cursed his mistake. Even while Shinn was far away, he still managed to make his life more difficult even though he was also to be blamed for it.

Duel suddenly attacked, forcing Justice to be on defensive. "Well, let's dance."

* * *

Sammy looked at the CIC display in front of her with some trepidation. "Merlin, please respond. Merlin, please respond," she called out for the mobile suit that acted as Cherubim's early warning system.

Barzhakov turned to look at her. "What's wrong?"

"We lost Merlin's signal few seconds ago."

The often cynical captain drummed his fingers. "Vector?"

A tactical map appeared on the main screen showing where the mobile suit was last detected.

Barzhakov noted that there were some black spots on the screen. No doubt that they were dead pixels; the screen would have to be changed soon, if the whole ship lasted through the whole ordeal. "No enemy detected?"

"None,"

"What does this mean, Captain?" Enishi asked.

Barzhakov looked at the map for a long time. "How's the situation with the current battle?"

"We managed to hold them to a standstill," the former ORB officer answered.

"That's pretty good since we didn't expect them to be this strong…" Bazhakov trailed.

"What's on your mind, Captain?" Elizabeth asked.

Sammy, send a message to Fallen and the rest of our fleet to take care of the current battle. Elizabeth, plot course toward the vector where Merlin was last detected. Engage the Shadow Dancer system"

"We're going to conduct a rescue mission?" Enishi asked, almost getting up from his seat. "Isn't using the Shadow Dancer system is a bit excessive for such a simple task?"

"We're not going there to rescue Merlin. I doubt that it's still intact… There's something I want to confirm." He continued drumming his fingers until he noticed that the bridge was too quiet and it occurred to him that everyone was waiting for him to explain. Barzhakov brought out the pipe that he always carried around him, put some tobacco on it. There wasn't a comment even he lighted it and savored the vanilla scented plume,

"Whether _'Tomorrow'_ is here or not."

* * *

**1**

* * *

**Author's note (9 March 2008)**

1. I would like to apologize for being unable to reply to some reviews for the previous chapter. I'm pretty tied up for now. But I do read the reviews, it's just that I don't want to just reply, 'thanks' or 'I like you' or other simple replies. I do apreaciate the reviews, really.

2. Sadly, I think that may also affect the current chapter as I only went through the chapter twice or thrice before updating. I would try to repair any error that I detect or someone pointed out to me but it have to be later.

3. I plan that this battle to be quite long because it would bring down the curtain on the whole story (minus the ending that is). So, explain certain events or 'fillers' that transpired earlier on in the story to greatly affect the whole thing. The final battle is halfway written (but the ones leading that aren't) so yes, I do know what will happen next.


	60. Now

A missile prodded on, the radar inside it was measuring the distance between it and its targets. A mindless slave as it was, it existed solely to destroy LOGOS's enemies; its nuclear payload was enough to erase a single city off the face of the Earth or create damage a PLANT colony enough to kill more than half of the population living in it. That day, at the behest of Lord Djibril, it would go down as a nameless martyr and kill as many Coordinator soldiers as it could.

The missile's central processing unit had just came to the conclusion that it was just few kilometers away from the point where its detonation would affect the ZAFT fleet it had targeted when suddenly its navigation sensors indicated that it had changed course. Determined to correct that, it tried firing off its vernier thrusters to compensate. However, rather than bringing it closer to its targets, it strayed further and further away, not realizing that it was a miracle that it didn't explode despite the gaping holes at its sides caused by a beam shot. After trying unsuccessfully a few more time, the fail-safe system kicked in and it ceased to function.

"That's the last of the nuclear missiles in my sector," Rey Za Burrel announced as explosions dotted the vast space. Few of ZAFT ships were hit, their defenses weren't adequate enough to intercept the conventional missiles that Legend, Destiny and Impulse had ignored in order to concentrate on the more dangerous nuclear missiles.

"I wish that LOGOS painted the radiation logo on their missiles just like what they did in the earlier." Shinn complained bitterly as he took out a missile that was close by. "It would have made recognition easier, you know, as all of them are similar."

"Maybe Djibril should have the warheads coated with glow-in-the-dark paint," Lunamaria offered.

"You're right! And he should also... wait, are you dissing me?"

"Me dissing you? Perish the thought."

"I'm sorry to interrupt your chatting in the midst of our fleet is being hit," Meyrin's image suddenly appeared on their respective screens, "but one of our AWACS have gone missing."

"Missile?" Shinn suggested.

"Low probability. The DINN was doing a recon in a 'green' sector." The color designation meant that the area was considered safe and no hostile units expected there. "We're designating the area as a 'gray' until further info could be gathered."

"You want one of us to go there to investigate."

Meyrin nodded. "Legend or Destiny since Impulse is battery operated."

"I will go," Shinn volunteered.

"It is better that I go since if there are multiple enemies, Legend would be better equipped to handle them," Rey said. "But that doesn't mean that you can relax here. LOGOS will certainly target Minerva and it would be your job to protect it."

"Have some faith," Shinn said. "Have I ever acted irresponsibly?" When everyone kept silent, he grumbled. "Fine, fine, I'll protect Minerva."

"Good luck," Rey said as Legend went to the said sector.

Twenty minutes later, amidst fierce fighting between ZAFT and LOGOS force, there was a very brief transmission from Legend before it was cut off and its signal disappeared from Meyrin's console.

* * *

"Archangel and ORB's fleet are up ahead," a voice announced to him.

Replace Gregory Neider's military uniform with a suite and no one would believe that he was a military commander. He wouldn't beg to differ as he was a businessman in nature and could blend well in cocktail receptions or in board meetings, as with most of LOGOS members.

Some who knew him may accuse him of being a selfish bastard who would even sell his family and they wouldn't be wrong, since he did 'sell' his son to be made an Extended. But no one knew about it since the boy's mother, a nameless woman whom he patronized few times was dead. It wasn't his fault since she was the one who threatened to spill the details of their affair to the world. Even when he brought the then very young boy to the Extended's laboratory, the director readily accepted his explanation for the boy having the same name as his; he was the sponsor and hence it wouldn't be wrong for the boy to be given the same family name as he has.

Gregory didn't feel a thing when he learned about his son's death. He couldn't be blamed for being apathetic to the boy's fate as he barely even knew him. In fact, he wasn't even sure if Auel Neider was his son as the tramp he slept with also slept around with other people.

Then there was the matter of LOGOS' business. Despite being distastefully called as 'Merchants of Death', most of LOGOS members didn't like being involved in the war; he even knew one of them who would cringe if he accidentally broke one of his well manicured nails or something. LOGOS wasn't about perpetuating war but rather perpetuating control over mankind. War was one of the tools towards that end. LOGOS didn't feel threatened by Coordinators in the first place. One might point out that the Blue Cosmos abhorred Coordinators and Gregory would be the first to agree. But Blue Cosmos was just another tool as well to redirect people's dissatisfaction toward their LOGOS-influenced governments toward convenient scapegoats, Coordinators. Predictably, when people rioted, the Coordinators sought refuge and many chose then completed PLANTS. It was LOGOS who had helped them to vacate to the place. Not few of the shuttles and rockets that launched many of them to their castles in the sky were indirectly under its control. The mass exodus had turned up a massive profit for it.

Throughout the years, LOGOS was involved in PLANTs' development through nation states' sponsorship. No one would even question the fact that as good as they were, Coordinators wouldn't have be able to build them if not for the assistance from Earth. But rather being the gratitude whelps they were, they quickly claimed independence.

Even then, LOGOS wasn't fazed because it already knew about such plan in advance. It even knew about the upcoming terrorist attack on the summit where the world leaders would be attending as well as the resulting war and had profited from all of the events. The war did seem more risky albeit promising more rewarding return of investment as well. Of course, the decision by the military idiot to use nuclear weapons in the first war didn't go down well with many of the members but they somehow believed that in one way or another, PLANTs would survive and the war would continue to fill their coffers. They were right in that aspect.

They didn't expect that ZAFT would drop the N-Jammers all over the world following the successful attack on Junius Seven but didn't let it affect them. With Alliance unable to use nuclear weapons, it had to rely on numerical strength to fight and LOGOS was more than happy to help. When Creuset betrayed ZAFT and provided the Alliance with the N-Jammer Canceller, LOGOS was also happy to help produce the N-Jammer Cancellers for their proxies, Blue Cosmos members as well as providing them to the nuclear power stations. In the end, the events were unexpected but LOGOS quickly benefitted from them.

Strangely enough, despite what Djibril said and claimed, LOGOS almost did nothing to provoke the second war. Of course, the members have discussed about it and various plans ventured were put forth but no concrete steps were taken. After all, although war was profitable, it required a lot of preparation and their analysts suggested that a period of five years or more would be more feasible; it was short enough to ensure that everyone wouldn't be complacent but long enough that LOGOS could capitalize its research on Extendeds and APEXes. Besides, some of them were quite hesitant in voting in favor of provoking a war when they learned how close they were to losing their live when some crazed ZAFT leader almost manage to unleash GENESIS on them. In the end, the riskiest plan they approved was to steal ZAFT's prototypes from Armory One so that they could reverse-engineer them and that was it. Gilbert, being peace-loving fool he was, wouldn't go to war just because an unmarked ship stole them.

Then Coordinators had to drop the stupid colony on Earth. While earlier on LOGOS believed that ZAFT wasn't involved in the drop, subsequent investigation pointed out the contrary; that was even before the photographs of ZAFT mobile suits attaching the boosters came in. Mere terrorists couldn't execute such an elaborate plan. Detonating a bomb or killing a prominent politician could be concocted in basements or in living rooms but dropping a colony would require mass resource and information, something that LOGOS or a nation's military had. For example, the so-called terrorist couldn't just walked into a hardware store and buy boosters powerful enough to move a colony; they could have done better buying uranium to produce home-made nuclear bombs.

Some whispers suggested that perhaps someone in ZAFT wanted to provoke the Alliance into attacking it. Whether they were true or not, the damage had been done to Earth. People would demand their governments to take action. But what action could be taken against invisible enemies? Conveniently, PLANTs provided good scapegoats as usual. Blaming them weren't that hard, especially with the photographs. Thus, the second war started.

While initially it started in their favor, the war quickly became a stalemate, with neither said gaining any advantage. Apart from Djibril and few others, most LOGOS members were satisfied with that as that was similar to the pre-war situation. Why bother erasing the Coordinators when they themselves would end without any interference? Truly, despite what Glen claimed, Coordinators were damned as they were as they were facing sterility problems. Obviously, the first Coordinator wasn't bright enough to tell the world that creating too many Coordinators would cause problems almost similar to inbreeding; despite their origin, many Coordinators shared similar genes.

Gregory Neider rubbed his chin as he wondered whether it was Gilbert who incited the war in order to force Coordinators and Naturals together. With him being a specialist in genetics, such thinking wasn't something impossible. Gregory shook his head as he dismissed such thought. No one could be that manipulative not even Gilbert. However, the man did something that was unforgivable: revealing LOGOS' existence to the world. With that revelation, it found itself besieged from all fronts as the very people it had manipulated turned against them. It was then decided that perhaps Gilbert was a dangerous threat than expected and as such had to be dealt with promptly.

In the end, he had been dealt with, rightly so as his so-called 'eternal peace' plan would have been a bane to LOGOS' existence. But to ensure that the rest of humanity remained under its control, a more powerful example is needed and it was decided that destroying all PLANTs would fulfill the requirement.

"Archangel and the ORB fleet have just entered our radar range," a male voice announced.

Ah yes, the proof of ORB's dichotomy in the matter of perpetuating war. LOGOS had been accused of selling weapons but at least it was being honest about it. However, ORB had trumpeted itself as the champion of peace while at the same time selling highly advance killing machines that made a mockery of the very same thing. There was no refuting its state-owned Morgenroete was one of the leading exporters of mobile suits technology, supplying to friends and foe alike. Perhaps that was why that dead Attha was adamant that ORB remained neutral as it would have been more lucrative to do business with both opposing sides rather than concentrating on just a single one. Gregory raised his eyebrows. Maybe LOGOS was wrong in its approach and should have followed Attha's way of thinking instead.

"We have a visual."

Archangel and seven Izumo class battleships; ORB had mobilized every space-borne warships it had and was going for the broke. No matter, he would help and enjoy breaking them. "Slow down our fleet approach by 50 percent and launch our Super Windams."

'_Oh well, business after warfare,' _he reminded himself. "Proceed with the attack plan."

His fleet's approach was reported to Murrue by Mirrialia. The Archangel's captain gazed at tactical map. The fleet had to be from Arzhachel as Lacus would be engaging the fleet from the other base. "Launch the rest of our mobile suits," she commanded. It was fortunate that she had anticipated such thing happening. She still wished that she listened to Mwu's suggestion to let him protect the fleet though.

"CAPTAIN MURRUE," Kusanagi's captain hailed.

"What is it?"

"I WOULD LIKE TO SUGGEST THAT WE FIRE OUR LOHENGRINS AT THE FLEET."

Murrue thought about the suggestion and then focused on the enemy fleet's formation. The formation was quite tight so it made sense since their ships wouldn't be able to escape easily. But there was a dreadful feeling in her gut as she wondered why it seemed so easy. "No. I think that it's better that we don't deploy them."

"WHY? IT WOULD BE A QUICK VICTORY FOR US"

"Captain, Kusanagi and three more ships are deploying and charging up their Lohengrins," Mir announced.

Murrue looked at her and then at Kusanagi's captain. "Stop it. Can't you see that there's something wrong here? It is as if that they want us to fire the cannons at them."

"MAYBE YOU'RE THINKING TOO MUCH. ALL I SEE IS THAT…" the Kusanagi's captain didn't finish his words. Long range shots hit both of Kusanagi's positron cannons and the resulting explosions annihilated the ship. Similar fate befallen two other ships. The last ship was more fortunate; it was merely crippled.

Murrue slammed her fist against her seat's hand rest in anger. The LOGOS's fleet had baited for her fleet to use the positron cannons against it and then snipped them. Her first thought was Buster did it but ruled it out as Mark Robinson of the Confederation fleet had confirmed that Buster was destroyed. So whatever who did it probably used similar weapons. While from distance such shots wouldn't leave as much as a scratch on the ships' thick armor, they were more than effective against a deployed Lohengrin. A single shot would be enough to puncture the cannon and caused the chain reaction would eventually destroy the ship. "Tell the rest not to fire its Lohengrins," she barked to Mirrialia. "They caught us," she said, more to herself than to others. "All hands prepare for mobile suits combat!"

The Murasames and their opponents met halfway and fierce fighting ensues. A Murasame broke formation and went after a Super Windam and let loose a couple of shots. The shots met empty vacuum as the Super Windam deftly evaded. Inside its cockpit, the gunner maneuvered a cross hair to land on the Murasame. However, just as the crosshair found its mark and he pressed the trigger, his mobile suit veered violently. The movement caused him to miss his mark. "What the heck?" he growled

"Another 'Same on our tail," his pilot replied.

The gunner craned his neck to look at the panoramic display behind him. "Fuck him," he cursed as he fired off the beam shotgun, intending and succeeding to scare away their pursuer. At that same moment, the cockpit shook again. "Can't you keep it steady?"

"Sorry, it was direct shot to the chest."

"Thank Lord Djibril for the shield generator."

"If you want to express gratitude to him, then kill the ORB bastards already!"

"Okay," the gunner grinned. "For our pure and blue world!"

* * *

"Isn't this where you're supposed to go 'Ha ha ha. I am the ugly and dastardly evil villain who will kill you, you dashingly handsome and charismatic hero of the story?'," Mwu said to Stephen in an attempt to rile him up in the midst of their fire exchange."

Stephen refused to give in to his ex-commanding officer's mind game. "Your self-conceiting ability amazes me, Colonel."

"You know, you're as straight as a crooked ruler, the other one I mean," Mwu said as Shizuka's remote units hovered around Forbidden, trying to search for a possible weak spot.

"You're awfully talkative than before, Colonel," Forbidden swung its scythe at a remote unit. The unit moved out of the way but a newly created scratched mark showed how close it was to destruction. "The only explanation that I can think of is the ugly metal helmet Lord Djibril made you wore made it harder for you to talk. Well, my respect for him just went up a few notches. "

"Shit," Mwu uttered quietly as he had nothing to say to counter that. It was just as well that winning verbal battle wouldn't determine who would survive the fight or not. But losing it made him look less cool. He didn't dwell on his defeat any longer as three emerald beam shots, all coming from different directions, converged on his mobile suit. Shizuka jerked backward a bit and the small movement caused the attacks to pass by. "All right, who are the wise guys eager to heat things up?" he growled.

As if owning up to the question, Three Super Windams regrouped behind their commander.

"Great, four against one." The ace glanced at another nearby tussle. Although a Murasame managed to score a direct hit on a Super Windam's body, the latter wasn't harmed as its lightwave barrier protected it. A quick glance at another fight also showed the same thing. Unless his force could find out how to defeat the almost invulnerable mobile suits, they were as good as dead. "Kinda fair arrangement we have here."

"You did say that you have a penchant for making the impossible possible." Stephen chuckled. "I'm going to take a leaf out of your book and make an impossible thing possible: killing Mwu La Fllaga."

Because of their attention were fixed on Mwu's Shizuka, they didn't notice that one of its remote units crept behind one of the Super Windam and opened fire. Mwu noted that the mobile suit was exploded almost instantly, revealing that their backside weren't protected. Sure, it wasn't easy to attack from behind, but it wasn't something unachievable. "You already proclaimed about killing me a few minutes ago and I'm still here. Heh, maybe it's really impossible for you. And furthermore, can't you be original and use a new phrase?" he asked while at the same time telegraphed to his pilots about the Super Windam's weaknesses.

It was pretty ironic that while Mwu had gain an upper hand against his foe, in another place, Athrun literally lost one while fighting against his; Duel had managed to cut Justice's left arm. "Strong, very strong. Even when I go all out against her, she still could keep up to me," he whispered to himself.

"You didn't expect me to do that, didn't you?" Farah, the Duel's pilot asked as she jettisoned her mobile suit's damaged lower leg.

"Yeah, I didn't," he said carefully as he viewed the hand holding a deactivated beam saber floating next to him. The cut didn't hit anything combustible so the hand didn't explode. "You traded Duel's leg for a chance to cut Justice's hand.

Duel jettisoned the other lower leg despite it being undamaged; it was probably to balance the weight and thrust distribution ratio. "Of course."

"It's the first time I've seen someone pull off something as crazy as this," Athrun admitted. The damage on Duel's foot wasn't caused by him but by Duel's pilot herself. They were attacking each other with their beam swords when Duel changed its tactic and tried to kick Justice's sword away. Athrun moved out of the way but she persisted and then succeeded in hitting Justice's elbow. While he was dazed by what happened, she then took the opportunity to cut Justice's arm, sacrificing its leg to hold the said arm in place.

"Thank you, though I have to say that the reason it work is because you don't expect it. It went against normal commonsense, isn't it?"

"To have someone like you fighting for Djibril… it's unconceivable." Justice fired its Hyper Fortis cannons but Duel simply moved out of the way.

"Whatever, blame in on the war or you being a Coordinator all you want, I don't really care, Zala. What I care about is whether you have changed your mind and let me go fight Destiny. As I told you earlier, you're holding me here," Farah stopped for while Duel slashed a damaged Murasame that careened nearby into two, "to the detriment of your men,"

"Damn you!" Athrun wanted to attack but stopped by his opponent's gesture.

Duel held out its hand. "Are you sure that you want to keep me here?"

The question caused him to stop.

"I have to stop you here, to make sure that you wouldn't threaten Lunamaria"

"Lunamaria is the name of Destiny's pilot, is it? What a girlish name. Whatever, I'm going to make you regret making such a proclamation."

Despite making that proclamation, Duel didn't move.

"What are you…" Athrun asked but trailed when he noted the incoming message. He didn't expect to see a map with some coordinates on it. "What is this?"

"Requiem's secondary power generation and storage facility. Even if your friends managed to destroy the primary grid, it can provide enough power for the cannon to fire."

"DAMN YOU, IGNIZ!" a third voice interrupted as a Super Windam tried to stab Duel from the back. "Not only you're not helping us but now you're colluding with the Coordinator scum?"

The latter sidestepped, letting the attacker pass through before throwing an armor penetrator that penetrated the cockpit, killing its crew instantly. "You're too loud for your deaths to be beautiful. Furthermore, I didn't remember admitting that I'm working for you." She then faced Athrun and smirked. "Where was I? Yes, I remember. So, Athrun Zala, what would it be? You can try to stop me here; I admit you have a higher chance of succeeding now that I'm fatigued. But I'll make sure that none of your force would make it in time to destroy the secondary power supply. Or let me go in order to concentrate on your mission and risk having your lover who is piloting Destiny killed?"

Athrun didn't bother correcting Farah about his girlfriend was piloting Impulse while it was Shinn who was Destiny's pilot. "You really want to fight Destiny that much?"

"Enough to ignore you. The deaths caused by you aren't beautiful enough."

He narrowed his eyes. She was crazy, but unlike the Extendeds he fought in the previous war, she sounded more normal and more dangerous. It wouldn't bode well for ZAFT's fleet is he let her through. Shinn, along with Rey and Luna could probably defeat her but there was a chance that she would prevail. But if he stopped her there and then, there was no guarantee that he and his team could check the coordinates given by her. Originally, Kira, Mwu and his teams' objective was to attack the main power generator before proceeding to attack the main cannon itself so there was no real contingency plan to deal with something like a secondary plan. Like it or not, he had become the contingency plan. "Where are you going?" he asked as Duel retreated slowly.

"You're taking too much time to decide, Zala, so I'm making the decision for you. If you really want to end this war, then go fulfill your mission."

"And letting you get away?"

Duel shot a Super Windam in the back, much to the consternation of her other team mates. "I can either do this to any Windam that chases me, or," it fired again, this time destroying a Murasame, "do this if you or your lackeys come after me."

"Damn you…"

"Bye bye!" Farah said playfully before engaging boosters.

Justice stared at Duel. Thinking that its pilot was distracted, a Super Windam tried a sneak attack from behind, but Justice somersaulted to its rear and hacked it into oblivion.

"Sir, what should we do about Duel?" Athrun's wing mate asked.

"Nothing," he answered exasperatedly. "We have to continue on and hope that Shinn and others could take care of her." He shifted his attention toward another enemy and sped off. _'Luna, please be safe until I return,'_

* * *

The atmosphere inside Minerva's bridge was quiet, in a stark contrast to the battle going on outside of the ship. Not even muted sound accompanied the explosion that racked a nearby Nazca-class ship that had suffered so many hits that it was a small wonder it managed to survive up that point.

"Munsyi destroyed," Meyrin announced softly despite everyone present had already witnessed its death.

Lacus was so transfixed with her job that she didn't notice her hands were trembling. Reports coming in from ORB and Confederate sides confirmed that her prediction was right to theletter: their joined strike had caused a lot of casualties on LOGOS, but at the cost of their own. Carrier ships ceased to exist around her; sadly that probably wouldn't matter much as many of their mobile suits wouldn't be returning as well.

"Heine, hard to starboard!" Talia barked as a wreckage of what used to be a ZAKU flung toward them at high speed. Following her order, Heine began the maneuver. Minerva turned at such a hard angel that Lacus, who was standing in her station was slammed into the solid steel wall near Bart Heim's station.

"Are you all right?" Bart asked.

"I guess," she answered, not noticing the droplets of red blood oozing from a small gash on side of her forehead. However, most of the crew who turned in her direction upon hearing the crashing sound noticed them.

"You're injured," Talia stated, her hand touching her own forehead to point out the injury spot on Lacus.

Lacus put a hand on the indicated spot and examined her hand. It was bloodied.

"I'll get you to the infirmary," Meyrin said as she got up from her place.

"No. This injury isn't anything to worry about," Lacus said as she floated back to reclaim her place, this time sitting there and buckling the safety belt. "Sent a return and refuel signal to D7, H12, K21 and send reinforcements to fill in the gap. Sent Jule… sorry, send Elsmann team to take the slack left by Jafni's team."

Now that the battle was underway, they were pressed for time because LOGOS would certainly attempt to fire the massive beam cannon at them again. To add salt to the injury, they had lost Legend to an unknown cause. While the cautious side of her was screaming for her to send some more mobile suits to investigate, she couldn't, not with the losses they're suffering.

The only consolation that they got was that they had destroyed the first relay station before starting the attack, thus buying some time as LOGOS would need to reroute a new relay station into orbit. Destroying the new relay station was out of the question as predictably it would be located far away from the first one that it would be hard to reach the new station on time before the cannon fired. So, the only solution that they had was to either destroy the cannon or its power supply or both. Her thought strayed to Kira and she wondered whether he was doing okay or not. She felt cloth being pressed on her injury and turned to see Meyrin.

"It wouldn't do for you to ignore the injury, Miss Clyne. Besides, if unchecked, the blood from your injury can short circuit the computers," Meyrin said as she began bandaging Lacus head.

"Thank you," the pink princess said softly and while giving her a silent questioning look.

Meyrin understood what the look meant. She remembered giving the same look to Heine was the two of them were chased by ZAFT and were trapped on a cliff. The CIC officer still couldn't get over the fact that he made her jump off the cliff onto the freezing water below. Coupled that with the sea strong current at the place, it was a wonder that the two of them survived. Yes, it was the look that asked whether what they were doing was the right thing despite the hopelessness of the situation at that time and whether they would emerge victorious.

Truth be told, Meyrin wasn't sure. Despite that, she smiled. "We don't know until we try, right? And since we try, let's try our best," she whispered.

Lacus smiled back tiredly and nodded her head.

* * *

Kira clucked his tongue in exasperation. He knew that she participated in the fight but he have yet to feel her presence. It was as if she wasn't involved at yet… no, he corrected himself. He didn't even know she was alive or not. The current feeling was akin to the one he had at the end of the first war, when he had failed to stop Creuset from claiming her life; the feeling of emptiness. The brown-haired Ultimate Coordinator didn't know it, but he felt the connection forming a few months after the war, but wasn't sure what it was. He knew what it was then; somehow, the hallucination he saw of her entering him to protect his heart could have signified the bond they shared.

"DIE YOU COORDINATOR!" an unknown voice invaded his channel. A Super Windam moved in to block him

Kira gritted his teeth in quiet anger. Still attached to the FALCON unit, Freedom fired few salvos at the mobile suit. As expected, the shots were blocked but Kira rammed into it. "You're blocking the way," he said calmly as he tracked the out-of-control mobile suit and then destroyed its head and all of its limbs. "And I'm really in no mood to deal with all of you." he said to a group of mobile suits heading his way as the targeting screen popped up.

Few seconds later, safe in his base, Djibril listened to the result of Kira's action. "THAT DAMN BASTARD IS TOO STRONG! A MONSTER I TELL YOU, A MONSTER!! REQUEST REINF…" a voice shouted before it stopped.

"We lost Bravo and Charlie," a blonde CIC officer in Alliance uniform announced while trying to reestablish contact.

Djibril turned to the general standing next to him. "If the Super Windams are as 'super' as you promoted, they would have defeated Freedom easily," he snorted.

'_Yeah, right. It's like porpoises trying to fight off a vicious Great White,' _the general thought sourly but as usual kept his peace. "I'm very sorry sir. We could reroute some that are on the way to ZAFT's fleet. Between them and the other three teams on the way to intercept his force, we have around fifty mobile suits compared to their six"

"And let Clyne whore live?"

"If we don't do anything, there's a chance that Freedom would reach our primary generator supply. If that happens, we have to rely on the secondary generator and it would certainly take some time to charge our weapon."

"Are you stupid or what?" Djibril asked calmly.

"Pardon, sir?"

"Even if we can fire now, where should we fire?"

"PLANTs…" the general tested.

"And then what?"

The question stumped him. "I… I don't know, Lord Djibril."

"That's why you're just a stupid grunt. Right now what matters is killing the Clyne whore as without her, we will win the war because those Coordinated retards would be leaderless."

"How about Yamato, sir?"

"Yamato is only useful in battles and we're currently providing him with one to occupy his time,"

The general thought about Djibril's words and felt stumped as he unwillingly came to the conclusion that Djibril was at least a bit smarter than he seemed to be which wasn't much, considering his choice of indigo-colored lipstick. The way Djibril explained everything, it was as if he wanted Kira to attack the power station so that he wouldn't be able to protect Clyne. The seasoned officer tried but failed to prevent feeling a bit of respect for his leader.

Djibril walked toward the room's exit.

"Lord Djibril?" the general asked.

"I'm going to take a nap. I trust that you would be able to handle everything and wake me up after we win the war?"

'_First he thinks like a Stalin when it comes to weaponry, follows Hitler with his Blitzkrieg strategy on PLANTs, plowed through Berlin like Napoleon, an irony since he sent Bonaparte there… and now act like Duke of Wellington? What the fuck with this guy copying past leaders? Okay, scratch that, he didn't follow George Washington or Mahatma Gandhi but still… I wouldn't be surprised when he asked us to build a Sphinx or anything as a sign of respect to him. What's up with the superiority complex? He's trying to hide his small prick or what?'_ "Yes sir! You can rest assured that I'll only deliver good news to you." '_I can always send someone else to report any bad news.' _

"Good." With that, he departed from the command centre. He kept walking until his room came into sight. But he didn't stop there. He kept walking until he reached a hangar where an Archangel-class ship was berthed and few of its crew members were standing waiting at the entrance, waiting for him.

"Let's go." he commanded.

* * *

1

* * *

**Author's note **

1. I **confirm **that there would be **four chapters** after this. Also, the basic layout for the last three chapters had been determined.

2. Now, though, I would like to ask a question which you can reply through whatever means you think is okay. Would you rather I post the next chapters according to the normal cycle (meaning I would post the chapters as I go along) or I update everything in almost one shot (I finish drafting all chapters and then post each of them one by one after I'm through checking them)?

3. A bit of info to help explain why second-generation Coordinators are more likely to become sterile and PLANTs mandated prearranged marriages among its inhabitants. When the parents opted for a Coordinator child, they would select the best gene, right? The gene that would cause their would-be child to be the fastest or the cleverest… So, when they go to a centre, say like that of Mendel colony, what is the probability of them choosing the same gene? Very high, correct? The problem is this: in each gene, there is some errors. These errors cannot be permanently erased because they are caused by mutations or damaged through other means such as sun's radiation. Normally these errors are too small to really affect the gene's usefulness and these errors would be constantly diluted. Since each parent would contribute half a gene for their offspring, the resulting gene would be quite different from either parent. But, in the case of a Coordinator marrying a Coordinator, they would probably have many similar genes that even have the same errors. So, in this case, the errors doesn't become diluted but would perpetuate, increasing more and more until to the extent that the errors caused to offspring to have problems, such weak body or being sterile. So, when PLANTs mandated that Talia marry somebody else and not Gilbert (thus triggering his villainous gene, :p ), it's probably because both shares a lot similar genes. By the way, this problem is also associated with inbreeding.


	61. SALVATION: the harbinger of chaos

Some of his detractors called him delusional for being unable to accept facts. Then again, they neither have the self-confidence nor the vision that he had. Seated regally in his 'throne' at the place where the CIC station in other Archangel-class ships would be located, Djibril let a venomous smile creased his lips. Yamato and his goons would have thought that they would succeed in stopping his plan; they would, but not without a cost. A very expensive cost. While they were away destroying useless piece of junk that couldn't even be used against ZAFT bases on Earth effectively, Djibril's fleet would mount a surgical strike at the ZAFT fleet. A surgical indeed as all ships, except his of course, and mobile suits would be mobilized to destroy just a single target.

A ship named Minerva.

After she was taken care of, he would retreat from the battle

Oh, they would be sure to hunt for him, but Djibril had already put forth a plan where he would fake his own death. Then, using the vast fortune at his disposal, he could easily buy over any cooperation, including those where LOGOS hadn't any influence. He planned to take over the construction firms both on Earth and PLANTs as they would certainly be involved in the reconstruction of places destroyed by the war, turning up mass profit for him to rebuild his empire.

From there on, he would slowly take over other corporations one by one, using proxies to detect detection. Eventually, LOGOS will permeate through both Earth and PLANTs governments once again, pulling strings and manipulating its puppets to carry out Djibril's bidding and only his biding. Gilbert's announcement about the existence of LOGOS was somehow a blessing in disguise. LOGOS' memberships had become larger and larger that it had become rather difficult for him to fully control it. Just like weeding out one's lawn, he would ensure the new organization would only retain those that he deemed as worthy to serve under his guidance and leadership. The others, he didn't care and would serve as sacrificial lambs to kill off those blasted Coordinators and their slaves.

He was so caught up in his imagination that he didn't notice what happening at the very instant. It took only the briefest moment, but Djibril, the ship where he was as well as the rest of his fleet, existed no more; only numerous melted wreckages remained as testaments to what had happened.

* * *

"You're as interesting as your man described, Lunamaria," Farah remarked haughtily as her legless mobile suit tried to stab Impulse with its sword.

"Thank you… I guess," Lunamaria answered while her mobile suit parried away the attack with the beam blade affixed its nightstick-like Mavica-T. She somehow regretted opening her big mouth when Duel arrived at the place, searching for Destiny, telling everyone throughout an open channel that she was searching for Lunamaria, the pilot of Destiny. Not understanding the whole situation, the ZAFT pilot introduced herself, only to have a polite request for a match; it was as a polite as it could be with the Duel pilot shoving its swords in Impulse's face and demanding that Lunamaria fight her lest she would slaughter other ZAFT mobile suits. With the skill displayed by her, the threat seemed real enough that Lunamaria had no choice but to agree to it.

"If I must say so, I have to say that I'm impressed," Farah said as Duel reared for another attack. "I was wondering why Destiny's pilot's name was a bit feminine despite the voice I heard while we were fighting then."

"Huh? You fought with Shinn before?"

"Shinn? Ah, I see. So that's his name. Zala lied…," Farah stopped as her attack was shoved away, "no, it wasn't the case. He said that he wouldn't let me get to you but didn't mention anything about you being Destiny's pilot. Tsk.. tsk… tsk… what a silly mistake I made. I'm supposed to fight Shinn."

"Wait, you want to fight Shinn?"

"Yes."

Lunamaria looked at her radar; Shinn was almost out of the sensor range, being redirected to fight off a sneak attack from the rear. She wondered whether she would feel guilty or not if she told Duel's pilot about his location. She wasn't shirking her responsibility, she told herself but rather it was his responsibility to deal with the crazed pilot to begin with. But it did feel wrong to rat out on him.

"I was really pissed off. But it's all right now."

"Huh?" Lunamaria said as she was broken out of her train of thought.

"I'm fighting against a more interesting opponent right now…," with that Duel resumed its aggression.

"You must be kidding me! You were so into fighting against him and now you're changing your target to me?" Lunamaria said in a frustrated voice. Of all situation she could be in, she had to clean his mess.

"Killing you would be more beautiful than killing him. I already fought with you lover for a while to get a grasp of his personality. I wonder what expression would appear on his face upon learning about your death. Ah, just like the sight of a sakura tree shedding its blossoms, your death would be tragically beautiful. My thanks to your friend Shinn for making this day possible."

Lunamaria growled angrily as Duel resumed its attack with a renewed frenzy.

* * *

As the rest of his team behind him, Kira looked at the massive structure. LOGOS had done well to hide the power generation plant inside the cavernous underground place, far from the prying eyes of its enemies. However, it didn't help much as the heat output of the generator could be detected from the moon's orbit. Of course, Djibril or whoever that commissioned the construction of the place had thought that it would be enough to place what seemed to be larger Windams equipped with beam shields. However, they weren't enough to stop Kira and his team from breaking through.

"Start retreating," he issued an order. "I'm going to destroy all of this."

"Yes, sir," his wingman acknowledged as all Murasames started to move away.

An aiming console popped up as a screen on his left side showed that all FALCON's energy weapons had been fully charged. He looked at his radar to see that the rest of his team had moved out of the generator's predicted detonation range. Then multiple beep echoed as the computer had finished calculating its targets.

"For the future of Coordinators and Natu…, no, for the future of humankind."

Ten seconds later, there was a very large detonation at the moon's side, one that would be large enough to be detected by observatories on Earth and PLANTs. It was followed by a smaller detonation at another place a half minute later. No matter what, Requiem wouldn't be able to fire for a long time and it would be up to Lacus' fleet to ensure that it wouldn't do so forever. Both Kira and Athrun's teams had accomplished their missions.

For Mwu though, his new mission had just started.

"Okay, let me get this straight," Mwu said, smirking at Mir's worried face. "You people got jumped by another LOGOS fleet?"

"Yes. We're holding up to them but since we're outnumbered…"

Mwu surprised her by chuckling.

"What's so funny?"

"Uh, sorry. You see, this is the first time in my life that I am able to say 'I told you so to a woman' and be right at the same time." He smiled. "Don't worry and hang in there. The cavalry will be there in a jiffy."

"Understood. But you have to return earlier because we need to replenish everyone's power supply. Looking at yours, I would have said that it's impossible for you to return back, but I'm not going to say it because then you'll have another chance to brag about 'making the impossible possible'"

Mwu looked at the power gauge and grinned sheepishly. "I can't help it. I was kept busy by a former acquaintance of mine."

It was a fierce battle, one that's up to his forte. Stephen, aided by the Super Windams attacked him from all sides, making sure that he hadn't enough time to use Shizuka's remote units to take them out. But he didn't survive through two major wars without being able to improvise on the current situation. He moved behind one of the Super Windams, destroyed its limbs and then damaged the thrusters. He ended up with a not-so-mobile puppet that could be used to block the attacks on him. When one of them finally lost patience and attacked it despite Stephen's warning not to do so, Mwu pushed it toward the attacker and in the midst of the confusion, destroyed both of them.

With the odds greatly skewed in his favor, it wasn't long before he took care of another Super Windam, this time using Shizuka's remote units. Stephen still persevered, and almost got him a few times. The Extended wasn't just dillydallying after all. However, Djibril, wanting to ensure that all Extendeds subjugate themselves under his or his minions' control, forgot something very important. Mwu himself had forgotten about it until a statement made by his opponent reminded him.

All Extendeds had Block Words and as a former commander of Phantom Pain, Mwu was privy to it.

However, Mwu almost regretted using it against Stephen. Like a wounded beast, the Extended pilot went berserk and his Forbidden trashed around with its scythe. It managed to destroy a Murasame by sheer luck and almost got another two. Luckily the Hawk of Endymion's moved to wrestle the weapon away and once had achieved that, shot Forbidden at point blank.

Mwu looked at the trophy in Sizuka's hand as it maintained its vector toward Archangel. While the weapon was quite dangerous in the hand of Forbidden, it was just a useless bludgeon weapon when used by Shizuka as its Phase Shift armor wore down; its power source depleted and couldn't be recharged by Shizuka proprietary connectors.

Despite that it was still a capable weapon, one that could be yield to damage normal mobile suits and perhaps to harass ships as well.

* * *

"Why?" Lunamaria asked, breathing laboriously as her legless mobile suit stared at its fatally damaged enemy.

"Why indeed..." Farah chuckled. "But the question is why what?"

"You purposely lose to me don't you?"

"Don't get so full of yourself. If I haven't made that mistake, I would have killed you with a single twinge of guilt and remorse."

"I see." Lunamaria said while not really being convinced. To her, the mistake didn't seem to be something that an experienced pilot like Farah would do. After exchanging attacks and blows, Duel suddenly rushed toward Impulse, beam saber ready to slash. In response, Impulse flew over it in an attempt to evade. However, that was a wrong move by its pilot as it left Impulse open for attack from underneath. Surprisingly Duel only managed to sever its legs. Lunamaria then took the opportunity to stab Duel close to its chest, effectively defeating the more advance prototype. "Despite that, I do feel that I owe you my gratitude."

Farah laughed, but it was a weak one, as her blood loss was fast sapping her energy. "Really, you're as dumb as your boyfriend, acting all chivalrous like that."

"Was that something wrong to do?"

"Not really, but I hate people like the two of you because it reminds me of what I was. Foolish."

Duel was engulfed in a large explosion, ensuring that Farah wouldn't be able to say anything anymore.

Lunamaria stared at what was left of her enemy. "I think you're still being foolish."

"Lunamaria, are you all right?" Shinn asked.

"Shinn, you have fought her before, haven't you?" Lunamaria asked quietly.

"Yes, I did," Shinn answered solemnly.

"She didn't tell me, but did you do something wrong to her?"

"Yeah. When we first met, she told me that I killed her father by accident."

"She said the murder was beautiful."

Shinn sighed. "I tried but couldn't excuse what I did. The only flimsy excuse that I could come up with was that the hospital sign outside of the building was small."

"Although you're my friend, Shinn, right now I think that you're lower than a piece of trash. It would take me some time to accept and forgive what you did to her." Impulse turned and blasted away.

"Yeah, I hope I can forgive myself too." Shinn said as he watched her leave. "Eventually."

* * *

"The LOGOS fleet had retreated?" Athrun asked as the rest of his team arrived.

"Yeah," Mwu said as Shizuka shouldered its newly-acquired scythe. "Maybe they realized the futility of fighting against my people."

"Whatever." Athrun said as Justice flew by it.

"Say, do you need a hand?"

"For what?"

"You know…," as if punctuating his answer, Shizuka pointed toward Justice's missing arm.

"Very humorous indeed, Colonel," Athrun said while rolling his eyes. Then he remembered something. "How's the situation with Robinson and Lacus' fleets?"

Mirrialia appeared on his screen, displacing Mwu. "The Confederation fleet have captured Arzhacel base while the newest news that we have from Minerva indicates that the ZAFT fleet is beginning to push forward and the enemy defense lines are breaking up."

"It'll probably be over when we arrive, right?"

"Yes. Once the defense is down, it's just a massive strike and Requiem would be put out of commission forever."

"How about the LOGOS fleet that attack Archangel? Will we pursue it?"

Mirrialia looked away for a second. "That's a negative. Captain Murrue said that maybe it's safer not to do so."

"I concur." A cornered beast would certainly fight more ferociously. However, that didn't mean that they're allowing the enemy fleet to run away just like that. Pursuing their enemy must be done with due caution as it could lead to a trap. "Maybe it's better that we discuss our next step with everyone else."

Ten hours later, all leaders from the combined fleet were assembled on Minerva, fatigue were a bit evident on their eyes as they had scant rest after the previous battle. That, however didn't stop them from looking at the projected map on the table, trying to figure out where Djibril could be hiding.

"Do you think that they would retake Arzhacel?" Lunamaria asked.

Mark shook his head. "I don't think so. Sure, they can probably overwhelm the guarding fleet that I left, but they do know that we'll send reinforcements. The worse thing that can happen to the base is that Djibril might want to wipe it off the face of the moon, but I don't think he would risk us shaving off the rest of his fleet. If LOGOS really wants to attack, it would target a strategically important target, not a tactical target."

The Arzhacel base was a tactical target as destroying it would severely affect combined fleet, but only for a short time in comparison to a strategic target's effect which would be longer lasting.

"There are three strategic targets that I can think off," Heine said as he began ticking off his fingers. "Earth, PLANTs and…"

"And?" Shinn asked.

"Us."

"Us?" Lunamaria questioned. "We're strategic targets?"

"Well, probably not you," Mwu said, his arms crossed, "and as much as I would like it to be, it's not me either." He gestured toward Mark and Lacus. "The two of them. If one or even both of them are taken out of commission, it will result in a very serious problem with the leadership."

"I don't think…," Lacus began to protest but Mark interrupted her.

"No, I think that he's correct, unfortunately," he said. "Most of my people aren't averse to working with _ZAFT_," he said, punctuating the word so that everyone would know that he meant Coordinators when he used that word. "Really, they don't care and Confederation has quite a mixed force. However, I don't think they would readily listen to outside orders. I believe that the ZAFT's is the same."

"If he will strike, he will aim for this fleet. In fact, he'll probably ambush us," Kira said. "But that's why I'm here," he said while looking at Lacus. _'To protect you.'_

"Then it's like a cat and mouse game," Athrun said, "We'll have to defeat him before he defeat us, is it?"

* * *

"What do you mean that there's no contact with the rest?" Gregory Neider demanded, glaring at his CIC officer.

"I don't know, sir. I've been trying to contact them for a while now."

Despite unsatisfied with the answer, he simply nodded. "What the hell happen? Did Yamato or Zala defeat them?" he asked to himself before quickly crushing that thought. As annoying as a cockroach, and twice as resilient, Djibril wouldn't let himself be killed that easily. After all, he didn't rise up LOGOS' ranks at a very fast pace without being smart.

Gregory didn't know that his fleet was the only surviving LOGOS fleet left as all had either been destroyed in the battle against combined ZAFT-ORB-Confederation fleet or in Djibril's case, lost to a mysterious attack.

As his ship passed by skeletal remain of a battleship, he eyed the thing, cursing his luck at having to lead his force through Junius Seven debris field. They really had to be careful navigating through the place: being careful means more time wasted moving slowly.However, if possible, he didn't want any of his ships to use their weapons while going through the Junius Seven debris field as it could warn their enemies.

The biggest chunk of what used to be the Coordinator scums' colony had been dropped on Earth, but there were a lot of smaller pieces that still remained. Hiding in the field would allow Gregory and his people to replenish some of their supplies. Probes could be sent out to search and make contact with other LOGOS ships that survived.

In the most remote possibility that Djibril and the rest of LOGOS fleet had been defeated, Gregory could simply surrender. Sure, as a member of LOGOS he would be put on trial as a political prisoner of war, but since he's just a junior member, he'll probably get a slap on wrist. After all, he surmised that Clyne and her cronies would be very interested in his testimony on Djibril's crimes.

Until he was certain the most beneficial way for him to proceed, Gregory would be patient and wait.

Moments later, he would realize that the time had been stripped away from him as the warning siren blared.

"Have they found us?"

"No, sir. We detect an energy pulse. We didn't notice it before, but that there was something behind us."

"IMPOSSIBLE!" he roared. There was no way anyone could sneak behind his ships undetected, except for a very select few: the Girty Lues class ships and the shithead Cherubim. But none of them would dare attempt an attack on his ships. It would require something more powerful, something like an Archangel-class to really stand a small chance. "Get me the visual!"

The only way the unknown enemy to not appear on the threat radar was by not moving at all. Most of the radars used to detect friendly and hostile units would normally ignore static or very slow moving objects. Such workaround couldn't be avoided as not doing so would cause them to display so many objects on the screen, especially in a debris field. However, that same thing had worked to their disadvantage.

An image of their stalker was shown on the screen.

"Oh my god…" Gregory uttered, unwilling to believe his eyes.

Despite being an atheist, ironically it was the last thing he said.

Moments later, onboard the unknown vessel, an officer announced. "Updating the current information, LOGOS's fleet strength is estimated at around one point five percent. The ZAFT-Confederation-ORB is around sixty three point seven; all of their prototypes, except for Legend, are believed to be intact." Her uniform was distinctly different, the design didn't bear any resemblance to ZAFT, Alliance or ORB's design.

"Very good," her superior acknowledged before turning toward the person who was sitting at the commander's seat. "What is your order, sir?"

The person didn't say anything, but simply rotated a white queen chess piece in his hand, appreciating its translucent crystal construction. After examining it for a full minute, the person then placed it on a sparsely populated chessboard by his side. Only then did he turn to issue an order.

If one examined the chessboard carefully, he could see that the queen's placement had ensured the defeat of the black side. The black's king was under a checkmate.

* * *

A day had passed since the decision was made to hunt down the remnants of LOGOS. The combined fleet of ZAFT, Confederation and ORB was moving toward the Junius Seven debris field at high speed as few hours prior, long range sensor had indicated something was definitely there, probably the LOGOS fleet in hiding. An hour ago, the decision had been made to launch most of the mobile suits, with Strike Freedom leading the way, lest the enemy tried for an ambush. Despite the preparations and the brave fronts everyone was putting up, they were very apprehensive as they got nearer and nearer to the spot.

"Strange." Bart Heim remarked, frowning.

"What is?" Lacus asked.

"Er, it's nothing. Minerva's navigational chart needs to be updated a bit."

"Update?"

"Well, for one thing, we need to put the giant asteroid that had just entered our sensor range into the database."

"Asteroid?" Heine asked, suddenly interested.

"Yeah, it's rather big, if you ask me. Oblong shape, more than 1000 meters long though the width is only around 300."

"1000 meters long and 300 meters width… if you ask me, the ratio is just nice for a battle…," Heine's eyes widened in realization and he quickly took hold of the communication transceiver without consulting Talia. "THIS IS MINERVA TO ALL SHIPS AND MOBILE SUITS! EVASIVE MANEUVER! I REPEAT, EVASIVE MANEUVER!" He then threw away the piece to grab hold of the ship's joysticks. "Everyone, hang on!" he said as the ship began to change its vector rather sharply.

Lacus wanted to ask what was wrong but she didn't need to.

At first, there was nothing. Then greenish beams of deaths rained upon the fleet relentlessly.

It was fortunate that Minerva had moved away from its previous vector as one of the beams singed its left wing. However, a Drake-class ship next to it wasn't as fortunate as it was hit head on. Just behind it, a Nazca carrier, in a haste to avoid the upcoming attack, crashed into another ship, obliterating both of them. All around the fleet, chaos reigned as all commanders tried to avoid the upcoming barrage while preventing crashing into each other.

With an uncanny instinct, Kira avoided one beam that was clearly aimed at him. His friend, however, wasn't so lucky. Athrun managed to sidestep the attack on him but dashed into another one that was coming toward Impulse. Moving in front of it protectively, he managed to raise Justice's shield just in time. However, Justice didn't escape unscathed. With the exception of the main body and the arm holding the shield, all of Justice's body parts were critically damaged.

The barrage only lasted twenty seconds but to everyone, it felt forever.

When it stopped, Lunamaria was about to enquire Athrun on his condition when he beat her to it. "Are you okay, Lunamaria?"

Later on, when she was asked about it, Lunmaria would have admitted that she was very close to screaming her head off at that question. Even after putting his life on the line to save her, he asked such question in a very calm and gentle manner; it was very exasperating but that he would ask for her wellbeing but at the same time Lunamaria couldn't help being selfishly happy at that gesture. "I'm all right."

"I'm glad to hear that."

Taking a deep breath, she guided Impulse to take Justice's crippled body. "You're a sitting duck here. Come, let's go to Minerva," she said before contacting the ship.

Athrun looked at screen that displayed Justice's thrusters that were still operational; there were only three of them. "Guess I don't have much choice."

Meanwhile, at the said ship, Lacus was trying to ascertain the damage dealt by their attacker. "Report?"

"Starboard wing hit, but apart from that we're unscathed," Heine answered. "Not much loss in maneuverability."

"Reports is still coming in," Bart said, "but currently thirty percent of our combined fleet has been diminished."

Lacus narrowed her eyes. Thirty percent of the ships were either destroyed or irrevocably crippled. Whatever attacked them had dealt a significant blow indeed. "Contact Archangel and Pocahontas,"

"Yes," Meyrin answered, as her nervous fingers began tapping the commands into the console.

Djibril managing to ambush all of them; it was unforgivable. Unconsciously, Lacus clenched her hands. "Please hurry up," she uttered, her voice a bit steely.

The ship's CIC operator nodded, trying to connect to the two ships and her effort was rewarded moments later. "Got both of them on the line."

To the de facto leader of ZAFT, the relief at seeing Murrue and Mark's faces was indescribable. At least for the moment, they were alive. "Are you all right?"

"WE LOST ONE OF OUR LOHENGRIN CANNONS BUT OTHER THAN THAT WE'RE QUITE OKAY," the Archangel's captain replied.

"POCAHONTAS SPRUNG AN ATMOSPHERIC LEAK IN THE PORT SECTION BUT OUR ENGINEERS ARE ON IT," Mark answered. "WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED?"

Lacus was about to answer when Bart interrupted her. "We have a visual."

"Transmit to the whole fleet."

The first thing that came to Lacus mind when the image of their attacker was displayed on the screen was that it resembled a very large umbrella or a mushroom with a long stalk. "What is that thing?" she uttered.

"Probably our SALVATION," Meyrin answered.

"SALVATION?"

"SUPER ARMED LIBERATOR, VARIABLE ASSAULT THROUGH INTEGRATED OFFENSIVE NETWORK," Mark explained. "We LOST A LOT OF MEN JUST TO GET THE NAME OF THE THING." He shook his head. "I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT THING IS WHAT IT IS ALL ABOUT."

"I've heard about it," Lacus admitted.

The Confederation Commander stared at Lacus, as if gauging her reaction. "YOU ALSO DIDN'T KNOW WHAT IT WAS," he deduced.

Lacus nodded. "After the end of the first war, it was decided that such weapon such as GENESIS wasn't very practical as it's immobile and open to attack. The only reason why it worked was that the Alliance didn't discover it earlier."

The statement wasn't really accurate because if the Alliance concentrated their strike force on it instead of the being bent on PLANT's destruction, the war would probably have a markedly different ending. After all, even with the numerous layers Phase Shift armor protecting it, GENESIS couldn't even withstand a single nuclear strike.

Lacus shuddered as she thought about what would happen if someone like Mark or Barzhakov led the attack instead of the inexperienced warmonger Azrael.

With the realization that something as static as GENESIS wasn't really practical, ZAFT military planners looked toward building a mobile weapon platform and example of that is the so-called Neutron Stampeder which was just a small GENESIS installed on a Nazca ship; the name was simply to mislead everyone in regards to its nature as GENESIS was prohibited under the Junius Seven Treaty. However, even the Neutron Stampeder couldn't be considered as perfect as it could only fire a single massive shot. An ideal platform would be a ship that could engage several other ships while at the same time protect itself from them and their mobile suits. That project itself was insanely complex and quite infeasible.

SALVATION being on Minerva's screen simply meant that someone had managed to overcome that infeasibility.

Kira's face appeared on the screen. "We must attack it now before it fires again."

"Kira!" Lacus exclaimed almost joyously. In the whole chaos she had forgotten about him.

"AGREED," Murrue concurred. "I BELIEVE THAT IT'S CHARGING UP FOR ANOTHER SHOT."

Lacus thought about the suggestion. SALVATION was decidedly hostile because of what it did to the fleet, so waiting for it to make its move could be fatal. She was just about to say her decision when she saw multiple missiles being launched toward SALVATION.

As if anticipating her question, Mark replied, "PEACEMAKERS."

"You're firing nuclear weapons?" Murrue questioned with disbelief.

"WE CARRIED THEM TO BURY REQUIEM JUST IN CASE THE ATTACK FAILED. I DIDN'T EXPECT BEING FORCED TO USE THEM ON A DIFFERENT TARGET," Mark said with a tinge of regret in his voice.

The missiles continued their streak toward the lone battleship and once they were in range, exploded with impunity.

"IT'S OVER." Mark stated as brilliant flashes filled the screen. Nothing could withstand a direct attack like that.

Once the nuclear explosions receded, however, everyone was shocked beyond belief.

SALVATION was still in one piece.

"WHAT THE FUCK?" Mark asked, not bothering to hide his shock.

"Just before the explosion, I detected a sphere of energy around the ship," Bart announced.

Then it came to Lacus as she remembered about the accident that happened to the laboratory that was developing a device that could generate a barrier that block out nuclear explosion. That wasn't an accident at all. Gilbert probably did it to hide the fact that such thing existed. Rather than deploying the technology to protect PLANTS and in return reveal it to the Alliance, he installed it on SALVATION in secret so that when the time comes, the ship would be invincible.

"There's an unknown radar signature next to our ship… er… not there…, sorry," Bart, clearly stressed by the whole situation apologized, "Multiple signatures from SALVATION. Current count : hundred. Sixty of them are mobile suits, two of them Valkyries. The other forty are unknowns." A picture of such device was displayed. There was no mistaking the DRAGOONs installed on it.

"MOBILE ARMOR?" Murrue asked.

"I guess we have no choice," Kira said. "We will have to attack the ship directly."

Kira didn't have to say it; it was as plain as a day that their enemy anticipated their counterattack. It was a pity that Athrun's Justice was taken out as they would need as many firepower as you could.

"Energy buildup detected on SALVATION," Bart announced.

They didn't have any time to rethink it over or devise a new tactic. They could either retreat and risked being shot in the back, or they fight back, knowing very well that they'll probably lose. In the end, the choice had already been made.

"All mobile suits would go under two teams, each led by Sh," Kira, stopped for a moment, "Asuka and Mwu. We'll adopt a pincer formation. At the same time, we require fire support from all ships."

"We will do that," Lacus said while the other leaders nodded.

"Make sure that all ship changes their vectors often." Kira reminded.

"What about you, Yamato?" Shinn asked. "I didn't hear you mentioned yourself in the plan just now?"

"I will draw the mobile-armors' attention."

Shinn wanted to make a snide comment but decided against it. "Yes sir."

Athrun appeared on the screen. "Let me change mobile suit and follow you."

"No." Kira answered. "Since most of the mobile suits would be involved in the push, we should leave behind few in case the enemy decided to send their own mobile suits against our ships. I hope you can take command of that duty. Whatever the case, don't let them get Minerva and Pocahontas"

"Archangel too," Mwu insisted.

"I understand." The rear guard duty, although sounded mundane, was quite dangerous since the defenders who included a handful of mobile suits, would have to be ready to defend so many ships against possible counterattacks.

Massive battle ensued between the combined fleet's, or what was left of it, mobile suits against SALVATION's. Meanwhile Kira took the opportunity to approach from another vector, his FALCON-equipped Strike Freedom moving at high speed. Sure enough, as he had predicted, some mobile armors began approaching him. The targeting console popped up, acquiring all of them. It was rather strange to see them keep flying straight to him; it seemed their pilots didn't know that their lives were in danger.

The computer stopped beeping and the targets have been lined up.

Before he pressed the trigger, however, the mobile armors broke their formation suddenly. Kira arched his eyebrows; their timing seemed _too perfect _to be coincidental_._ He tried again and again they evaded at the very last second.

By then few of them got close enough and unleashed their DRAGOONs to attack. While FALCON was without a doubt very fast, it wasn't as maneuverable and a few well-aimed shots forced Kira to eject it. Under the cover of its explosion, Kira destroyed two DRAGOONs that were coming up his flank.

The success wasn't enough as more enemy DRAGOON filled up his radar. Even unleashing his Super DRAGOONs didn't help much. Frighteningly, his opponents had anticipated his move even before he could make them.

Kira would never find out in time that the DRAGOON-carrying mobile armors were controlled from away by someone else. And that someone used Kira's past battle records to come up with various predictions on his next move. While such thing was considered impossible given that a human being can react in so many ways, the reality is that their response would be a conditioned one; it was the easiest one. That simple fact allowed the person to know that Kira's reaction to a threat to his right was slower by fifteen milliseconds compared to a threat to his left. In a mobile battle, that fifteen milliseconds was enough for a DRAGOON to destroy one of Strike Freedom beam rifles.

Kira was so immersed in evading attacks on him that he barely saw notice the new blip in his radar. Something, probably a mobile suit, was coming, though he couldn't be sure what or who because the energy signature given by it wasn't familiar. He would have attempted to get a look at it if not for the DRAGOONs swarming him. To his relief, the newcomer let loose a couple of shots that destroyed two stray DRAGOONs that managed to escape his attention and were poised to shoot at Strike Freedom from behind.

It would have seemed that the mobile suit that arrived was a friendly, but before Kira could turn Strike Freedom in its direction and then contact it to thank the pilot, a burst of beam shots were fired at him. The mobile suit was attacking him. Dodging to evade its attack as well as the attack from the DRAGOONs, Kira was too preoccupied to see it launching itself at Strike Freedom.

One moment Kira was aiming Freedom's rifle at a twin DRAGOON and the next one he found himself attempting to regain his mobile suit's bearing, courtesy of a swift kick delivered to its head.

His effort was quite futile because even before he could stabilize his mobile suit, another blow, this time to its chest disrupted caused Freedom to spiral out of control further and further.

In the midst of being in the situation, Kira managed to catch a glimpse of a mobile suit drawing what seemed to be a beam saber, judging from almost ruby glow it gave. Reacting to an imminent attack, Kira drew Strike Freedom's own beam saber, all the while wrestling control of his mobile suit. Strike Freedom managed to stabilize itself just in time to raise its beam saber to block an attempt to hack it into two.

At the same time, Kira's eyes widened in shock. As if knowing what happened, the attacker spun and delivered another kick at Fredom's head. This time, Kira managed to recover faster than before. However, he has yet to get over his shock. The hostile mobile suit definitely looked different, but there was no mistaking its gunmetal black body, red trimmings and those yellowish glow coming from its 'eyes'

"Fallen…"

* * *

1

* * *

**Author's note (3 July 2008)  
**

1. It has been quite some time since I last updated Fallen Angel. Let's see, it's slightly more than three months? Besides my other commitments, I also decided to do the four chapters in one shot before uploading them periodically. Currently, all except the final chapter have been drafted, meaning that I would only do minor and final adjustments as well spell-checking them. For the final chapter, it's around sixty percent complete. With that in mind, I can safely say that without a major problem to impede the schedule, I will upload each chapter each week.

2. About Djibril meeting his… um… rather unglorified (don't know whether such word exist; but it's rather fitting) demise, well, despite what seemed to be a built-up to his fighting against the combined force, I had pretty much plan for his death to be in this manner. Yeah, sure, it'll be fun making him going down fighting, but that would unnecessarily detract from the main event: SALVATION. Same thing could be said about Farah, though the circumstance, as you can see is a bit different.

3. With SALVATION's appearance, I've pretty much tied up all major loose ends in the story. Some fillers like the attack on ZAFT's research facility that was researching on anti nuclear strike protection, why Barzhakov agreed to join forces with Jacques, what happened to Cherubim's Merlin and Legend… Even earlier in the story, say two years ago, I've decided that the final 'boss' wouldn't have no GENESIS installed, be it 'Neo' or 'Hyper'… whatever. Sure, a very big beam that covers a very large area can be devastating, but a weapon that bombards its target with multiple attack can be more psychologically intimidating; it is something that is suitable for creating a sense of terror on a populace. Besides that, since the cannons are independent of each other, they can be assigned to track targets that are far away from each other.

4. In case someone wonders, when talking about reflex and how some people have better reaction time compared to other, we shouldn't forget one of the major determinants: trained reflex. Normal human being (should apply to Coordinators) has a vast neural network in his or her brain that would process anything, be it body movement, sensory information, knowledge, etc as a stimulation in the network. This neural network can be tuned to work at a faster rate by repeating the stimulation few times until the brain network optimizes itself. That would explain why a martial artist reacts faster than a non-martial artist when facing an attack. By practicing certain move, he tuned his brain to anticipate imaginary attack. So, when a real attack does come, he doesn't have to waste time to think of a counter move; the time that he could have used to execute the move. But, the efficiency comes with a cost: flexibility. If anyone would like to try an experiment to prove whether this concept is correct or not, you can do the following – each time someone mention your name, quickly say this "I'm smart". If you repeat this often, very soon the action itself becomes automatic that you'll find yourself responding before it even registers in your conscious mind that someone called your name. Do take note**: I absolve myself from any responsibility should you attempt to do that experiment, more so if you replace the wording with something… negative.**


	62. The hearts of wrecked souls

Kira was almost livid with disbelief as his mobile suit struggled against the gunmetal black mobile suit. After struggling so hard, he finally managed to push it back. "You're an impostor, aren't you?" he declared as Strike Freedom activated another beam saber.

In response, Fallen reversed its grip on its Saitenwaffe short anti-ship swords but didn't move.

Meanwhile, the mobile armors that were attacking Kira remained at their coordinates, as if becoming mute spectators to whatever will happen next. "Answer me!" he demanded.

Fallen answered his question, but not in the way he wanted. It swiped at Freedom's chest, as if targeting the cockpit on purpose.

Kira sighed in muted frustration as he was forced to evade before trying a counterattack.

The fight continued for quite some time, with one mobile suit attacking and other defending; they would interchange their roles, repeating the cycle. Freedom swerved as Fallen passed by again, the black mobile suit's anti-ship swords almost rendering it limbless. His opponent had fought him off to a standstill.

For what seemed to be a mere copy of Fllay's mobile suit, it was simply formidable foe indeed.

But Kira could see the difference between his enemy and the real Fallen. While the original Fallen could be described as a medium range attack mobile suit, the one in front of him was utilizing a close-range fighting style. Looking at it closely, the way it fought was similar to Destiny. No, Kira corrected himself, it was different. Shinn Asuka's way of fighting, especially when he deployed Destiny's Wing of Light, was similar to a knight or samurai, trying to inflict a fatal damage in one blow. Thus, it was quite easy to anticipate his attack.

Fighting against the fake Fallen, however, was like fighting with a ninja that opted to slowly injure his opponent to death. Despite the equipments it was carrying at the back resembling some kind of DRAGOONs, he has yet to see it use them.

"You have guts, trying to pretending that you're Fallen," Kira said as Freedom launched its Super DRAGOONs, deciding to end the battle quickly and focus on SALVATION. "But you made two mistakes. One, I know Fallen's pilot personally and I can vouch that you're not her." He knew that Fllay's fighting style was different than his opponent's, but what convinced him was that he couldn't feel the connection with the pilot. It's certainly wasn't Fllay. "Second, if the small units behind your mobile suit really are DRAGOONs, then you would've used…"

Kira felt his breath caught in his throat as Fallen launched the DRAGOON units. The reason why his opponent didn't launch them earlier on became apparent when he had to steer his own DRAGOONs away. His enemy wanted to catch him by surprise. "Damn it!" he swore, something he rarely did, but he was pretty annoyed by the person he was facing. "Who are you?"

"I thought so," a very familiar female voice answered him. "You didn't know." The voice chuckled. "I guess the bond that connects the two of us, the red string of fate, as Japanese would call it, has been severed."

"Fllay?" he ventured, still not believing what he heard.

What happened next was so fast that it was only due to Kira's SEED ability activated did he see it coming. All of Fallen's twin DRAGOON units split, and twelve individual units converge upon Strike Freedom. And it was due to his superior instinct that Strike Freedom escaped from them, receiving only a light graze to its shoulder.

The split DRAGOONs merged back and returned to Fallen. "Or maybe the real red string of fate is us fighting against each other, just like in Berlin."

* * *

Mark turned toward Pocahontas' radar operator, barely concealing his surprise. "Fallen is fighting against Strike Freedom?"

"According to the ID transponder as well as the updated energy signature, it's the same. However, the IFF identifies it as a hostile."

The Confederation commander looked at their fighting scene for a moment before turning toward SALVATION. What was Barzhakov thinking, ordering that mobile suit to attack Strike Freedom? The two of them was supposed to work together to attack the ZAFT battle fortress, not trying to kill each other. He knew that Barzhakov and his band of not-so-merry men were independent contractors, removed from the normal military as well as administrative command; at some times, he had seen how Rosseau and Ivanov become frustrated by Barzhakov and Cherubim's antics but those actions were different from the current situation they're facing.

If they're unable to destroy the big fortress in time, it would kill them all.

He wished that he wasn't foolish enough to leave Strike and Blitz back on earth. Blitz could have been useful in penetrating the defense net while Strike would help to thin the enemy's mobile suits.

"Sir, Nimitz has been hit by a torpedo in its portside and Diana had crashed into Battleaxe."

_Will the bad news ever cease?_ Mark thought to himself. "Order Thanatos and Tesla to cover them until they can escape."

Escaping from a condemned ship in an escape pod or shuttle would only increase the chance of survival slightly. While it was a cruel and despicable thing to do, the enemy attacking their vulnerable officers who can't fight back was a valid tactic as it would reduce manpower. Mark couldn't pretend that they wouldn't be targeted but at least he would do his best to ensure their survival

At the same time, with Strike Freedom being held up by Fallen, he could only hope that the other assault teams would get through.

* * *

"Why are you fighting against us?" Shinn asked, his voice wavering because of the betrayal.

"Death to all those who fight against peace!" the pilot of the Valkyrie mobile suit announced as it fired its multiple beam machine guns.

"Peace?" Shinn questioned as one by one the Windams under his temporary command fell underneath the larger mobile suit's suppressing fire. "You're the one who attacked us! We're supposed to fight together against Djibril."

"Don't make me laugh! SALVATION had already taken care of the cretin and now we will destroy all of your warmongers." All of Valkyrie's rocket pods on its shoulders, hips and legs popped open. "Eat this!"

Shinn gasped as Destiny got targeted by so many missiles that they filled his main screen. Even though Destiny was equipped with Phase Shift armor, there was no telling that it would survive if the missiles hit it simultaneously. That wouldn't happen because he wouldn't let even one hit him. He must stay alive so that he could defeat SALVATION.

He didn't notice that he had activated his SEED ability; he barely acknowledged that his mind had become clear and more focused. The time had arrived for him to counterattack. Deftly moving backward while destroying some that got close enough with Palma Fiocinas, he finally got a clear shot at Valkyrie. But before he could even deploy Destiny's M2000GX beam blaster, he found himself ganged up upon by a group of GOUFs.

Cursing, he prioritized his task to destroying them, but as if knowing his thought, they quickly moved away. Even then, their speed would be no match against Destiny's Wings of Light. All he needed to do is to chase after them.

"Don't do it, kiddo" a male voice called out to him.

"Huh?" He had met the person during the briefing. "What do you mean, Fllaga?"

"If you chase after them just like that, you will probably die. I noticed that they were well versed in our battle tactics, so going it alone would be dangerous."

Shizuka moved in front of Destiny, allowing Shinn to see that the mobile suit was damaged.

"I did the same thing just now, and look where it got me."

"I am not you, and why should you care if I died?"

Mwu didn't say anything and the two of them continued fighting against the enemy mobile suits. It was until Shinn managed to destroy one of Valkyrie's hand did the man said anything. "Are you that desperate to see Stellar?" he asked quietly.

"How… how do you know?"

"I am the man who made the impossible possible, after all," Mwu answered as he landed a fatal blow on the Valkyrie.

"That didn't answer anything!" Shinn growled before one of his wings was destroyed and along with it the M2000GX cannon.

"Of course it isn't," Mwu chuckled as three of his remote units were destroyed by beam shots; he had only one left. "Tell you what, if you really want to know, then survive until the very end."

"What if you die before that?" Shinn sneered.

"Well, it's up to you to make sure that I survive, then."

"You're on!"

As the two of them fought together, Shinn let his thought stray to Stellar. Sure, their relationship could be described as a rather strange one since he didn't know what to think about her. Stellar was a ruthless killer molded into that role by LOGOS but yet at the same time, she also had an innocent side that was so alluring that he couldn't help but be enamored by it.

He knew that it was quite irrational, but despite it all, he wanted to protect that innocence. Even though she was piloting a mobile suit stolen from ZAFT and used it to kill other people, he still believed, perhaps naively that she could saved. He had a glimpse of that possibility when she recognized him when he called out to her in Berlin. But why did she ended up in Destroy when he had Neo promised him to save her.

Neo.

That person held the answer. If he was still alive after all, then Shinn could get the answer from him. But in order to be able to do that, Shinn had to survive the war first.

* * *

"Why, Fllay?" Kira said as both Freedom and Fallen continued fighting.

"You really have to be more specific, Kira."

"Why are you attacking me?" Meanwhile one of Strike Freedom's DRAGOONs darted toward Fallen which was blocking another attack from its rear.

"If you really want to know, it's to stop you." The lone DRAGOON's path was blocked by an AURORA, ever ready to protect its host unit.

"Stop me?"

"Yes, stop you."

"Why do you…," Kira stopped to look toward SALVATION, "… you're in cohorts with whoever controlling that ship?"

"Does it really matter to you?"

"It does!" Kira insisted. "Tell me, did you?"

Freedom attacked with its beam sabers, only to have them met by Fallen's two Saitenwaffes. "It really doesn't matter, Kira. For you, right now all you have to think about is to survive fighting against me."

Kira thought about her words and a thought occurred to him. She was probably seeking revenge because of him breaking up with her. If that was the case, then, perhaps she could be dissuaded from stopping him. "You want to kill me, didn't you?"

"I thought I made it really clear. I'm to stop you here."

"Fllay…," he hesitated because the words he was going to say next would be very painful, "I admit that what I did to you at that time was wrong… If you really want to kill me, I understand. But please wait until I defeat SALVATION."

"Wait until you defeat SALVATION… If I allow that then it would be too late!" Fallen resumed its attack with renewed frenzy.

"Please, Fllay! Let me through!"

"Very well."

Kira let out a relieved breath. At least he had overcome that hurdle.

"But while you're attacking that ship, I'll have to amuse myself with some other mean. For example… maybe I will attack Archangel… or would I be interested in destroying Minerva?"

"FLLAY!" Kira shouted in anger as Strike Freedom pushed back with overwhelming intensity.

"As it is, if you continue on with the attack, not only you will fail, but you will also ensure the destruction of Minerva..."

"How could you say such a thing?"

"I'm being honest here. Think, if I didn't attack you but just wait until you're preoccupied with SALVATION, I could've cut an easy path through the fleet's defense."

"Athrun will stop you then," Kira said, his fury increasing bit by bit.

"You know that isn't true. Even if Justice wasn't damaged, it would have been easy to defeat him. Do you know why? His and that Destiny's pilot's styles of fighting; they're very easy to predict. Everything is calculated in the best and most efficient way. Isn't that what SEED is all about?"

Fllay's words confused Kira. While he had thought about the ability that he had, he had always thought that it was very powerful ability one would have.

"If your SEED ability's capability is switched on, Kira, I'm guessing that you're thinking about how SEED ability is supposed to be advantageous to have, instead of becoming a liability."

"How do you know…"

"Someone told me that a SEED carrier can see the future. However, that statement isn't really correct in the first place. Thinking back about our previous fight in Berlin, If I have to say it, by having SEED ability, you somehow have an ability to manipulate your way to having the future that you envisioned takes place." Fallen let loose a couple beam shots to force Freedom to cancel attacking it. "That's the reason why the SALVATION's DRAGOONs are unable to attack us right now."

"Huh?" Because he was still busy trying to save himself, he almost didn't hear the statement. "So that's why you didn't use them."

"You're right."

"I still didn't see why we must fight against each other."

"Then don't worry about it. All you need to know is that if you are defeated here, _Lacus_ will die."

"Fllay…" Kira warned, his anger beginning to rise again.

"That's the truth and you know it. I wonder how she will die, whether slowly choking to death in the highly toxic vacuum or burned to a crisp in just an instant."

Freedom delivered a hand chop at Fallen's right hand, forcing it to drop its Saitenwaffe. Then, Freedom stored its swords, engaged its thrusters at maximum to chase after the retreating Fallen and head-butted the black mobile suit. Not wanting to relent, it chased after the out-of-control mobile suit, activating its beam sabers once more. "Fllay, if the only way I can stop your rampage is by killing you, so be it," he said through teary eyes as Freedom delivered a slash that was meant to end it all.

There was a very bright flash in the distance.

It was a very brief moment, but enough to distract his attention. Once he turned toward Fallen, he saw only discarded armors along with the suborbital Zwiling Lanze and AURORA units attached to them. Before he could dwell on it, he felt Freedom's movement being restrained and a deactivated Saitenwaffe was placed right on top of his cockpit.

"The only sadder thing about SEED holders thinking that they could see the future is the fact that they could easily be manipulated into fulfilling other people's desired future as well," Fllay whispered

* * *

Elsewhere, a pilot fought an urge to punch the screen in front of him, knowing full well that he could the person who appeared in it.

"Decrepit, the order may come any time now. Wait for five seconds delay after that in order to allow Dingbat to release its Mirage Colloid," Sammy said with a straight face.

"_Devastation Strike _and_ Devious Blitz,_" Thomas Spencer, the Strike LANCE's pilot said, punctuating the words.

"Whatever. I know what I am going to say next is idiotic but I have no choice. Terrence forced me to say it. When you press the trigger button, you might probably want to shout 'Mega Cannon!' or 'Buster Rifle!' or something like that."

"Do you think I'm on crack or something, suggesting something as embarrassing as that?" Tom said but Sammy had signed off. "Damn!"

Onboard Cherubim, Sammy turned toward the main screen. "He's going to scream at you, you know.

"If he survives, that is," a voice from behind her commented. "Let's reword that. If all of us survive this."

Sammy turned toward the person. "Terren…" Before she could say anything, her mouth was captured by his. After he withdrew, she sputtered before managing to speak. "Why you…"

"That's sexual harassment, you know," Barzhakov said.

"Don't make me laugh," the tech specialist said, his eyes rolling. "Protocol 431a specifically states that smoking on the bridge is punishable by death if it causes the machines to malfunction."

"Yes, but at least that by firing squad, a less painful way to…" Barzhakov stopped when he saw Sammy slugging Terrence.

"At least cough up some money for us to go on a date, idiot!" Sammy said, taking back her place.

Rubbing his sore face, Terrence took the tablet that he had dropped. "Ouch. So, any sign of the power redirecting?"

"As you projected," Enishi confirmed. "Reports from our engineering section indicated that the secondary life support systems are ready to go at any time."

"Very well, prepare…"

"What the heck?" Sammy exclaimed. "I have Strike Freedom in the database. Currently undergoing…" she squinted her eyes, "…harmonization"

Terrence narrowed his eyes. As promised, _she_ had done it.

_The briefing was over and Terrence was just about to head to the cafeteria for a nice of insomnia-inducing coffee when he noticed that he wasn't alone. "Are you here for a debriefing? I promise to be gentle."_

_Fllay didn't answer him but shoved a tablet in his face._

_Sighing, he compliantly took the table and read it. Where there was a lecherous expression, there none after he finished. "I'll let you know that I went through a similar one and it was the first one I dumped."_

"_You don't like the way it will be achieved."_

_Terrence scoffed. "I may be a dunce, Fllay, but I am a scientist. I am able to look at everything from a neutral view and I can say that while it has the highest probability to succeed out of all the plans that I go through, one of the perquisites isn't met."_

"_I'll let you know that I already saw the result of the plan that you proposed. It would fail."_

"_Really?" the man said as he regarded her with a skeptical look. "May I borrow your crystal ball then?"_

"_Tell me the requirement and I will fulfill it."_

_Terrence smirked. "Pretending not knowing about it. Real cute." _

"_Maybe it's better for me not to know some things. For example, I don't think you me to know the original name of Plume de Lune's system, do you?"_

_He really didn't expect her to make that statement. "You know." _

_Plume de Lune, when translated from French into English meant, 'feathers of the moon': a rather flowery name compared to its practical purpose which provide unsurpassed agility. While in its normal mode it couldn't match Voiture Luminaire and its derivates in a single vector speed, that weakness was more than offset by its capability to change direction. _

_She nodded. "Though 'loon' is not a real French word."_

"_It's supposed to be 'the feather of lunacy'" He pointed a section on the tablet. "You don't believe this, do you? Or are you suggesting this because it would effectively negate the plan we're going to use"_

"_You can answer that youself, I'm sure."_

"_Like I said, your plan is useless without…" Terrence stopped when he looked._

_With a hand covering half of her face, Fllay asked, "This?"_

"_Crap. I forgot that you managed to regain it. But how did you do it? Even though yours is an imperfect one, the activation should be same," he asked as he looked at her eye._

_A blink and the eye had changed back to its smoky grey color. "All I needed to do is overwhelm my rational side with my emotion. Lately, I find it's easier to do."_

_Terrence handed the tablet back to her and turned to walk away. "Go to hangar and asked Lim's help to get computer chip ID no. SF-3422172."_

"_What am I supposed to do with that?"_

"_You will know. Only if you succeed we will follow you plan. Regardless of the results, Fllay," Terrence stopped. "know that I'll never forgive you for doing this."_

"Terrence?" Sammy asked, breaking him out of his reverie.

"Yeah?" he asked back absently.

"There are attempts to interfere with the harmonization."

"No doubt he's trying to hack into the main OS." He grinned. "But he can be a hacker god for all I care; he wouldn't be able to do anything against the harmonization because the process is mostly hardware base."

Despite perpetual myth, there were limits to what a hacker could do. For example, he couldn't simply modify software installed on a Read Only Memory or known as ROM, not without certain equipments. He could devise a workaround, but to pull off that move successfully, there were other conditions to be considered as well. Kira Yamato's computer skills were impressive, being the man who finished the ORB's Astray OS. However, talented as he was, he wasn't able to match Terrence who had become a specialist. The only person Terrence felt had a good chance of disrupting the harmonization was that ZAFT girl whose hacking prowess didn't exactly fit with her rather lowly position as a CIC officer.

"We'll switch to plan C2," he said calmly. "Tell Strike to fire."

The ordered was received a second later. "Deactivating Mirage Colloid," Abdulhasiz, Blitz's pilot reported.

Bit by bit, both Strike LANCE and Blitz Nacht appeared, with the later holding the former so that the Mirage Colloid would render both of them invisible. Strike's weapon was connected by a cable whose end led to nowhere.

"Initiating Devastation Strike, I repeat, Devastation Strike and not Dickhead Strike, Tombak Sakti's secondary mode," Tom said as the said weapon began to glow. "Power transfer checked, firing solution attained." His thumb pressed the trigger button. "Tombak Sakti, firing"

* * *

Kira expected for his death to come swiftly, not the excruciating situation that he was in. Everything inside the cockpit weren't switched on, save for the boot-up display that showed some kind of processing going on. He remembered seeing a beam aimed at SALVATION, but didn't get to see what happened as his mobile suit suddenly powered off. He tried to enter some commands into the console but it didn't work. Instead, a small obscenely cute icon of a blonde male appeared shaking his head while saying that it was useless to do anything as the whole system was hijacked not through software but through hardware.

The screen changed to display an annoying animation of the blonde man kissing girls, one of which was a red head with smoke grey eyes. Kira didn't know why but he felt an indescribable rage at the programmer.

A window popped up and the cockpit was finally bathed in light before. He was so relieved that he didn't notice the small change at the boot screen.

"Fllay!" he called out as he turned toward Minerva. The ship was still intact.

"Kira?" Mir appeared on the screen, confirming that Lacus was indeed safe. "What happened to you?"

"Don't mind that. Is there any mobile suit coming your way, a fast one at that?"

"No. Does Cherubim relay any message to you?"

"Huh?" Why did Lacus asked that when he has yet to see the ship? "Cherubim is here?"

"Yes. Didn't you notice the shot it fired at SALVATION? I don't know how it managed to do it when we failed, but the ship managed to puncture through the fortress's beam shield."

* * *

Cherubim's bridge was totally dark save for some machines humming steadily.

"Fuck," Barzhakov said, summing the situation nicely.

"Thank you, but no thank you," Terrence said. "I'm heterosexual."

"Do you think we succeeded?" Sammy asked. "We're putting ourselves on the line here: no Shadow Dancer, not even the CIWS system are functioning properly."

"No. Not yet. We're halfway there though."

"But I don't see how we could puncture the shield when the fleet couldn't." Enishi asked.

"Simple. They don't have me onboard," Terrence replied. "Before you can make a retort, Sammy, let me clarify that. I've seen the theoretical design of the ship. With it being equipped with all kinds of weapons and shields, it's obvious that the power will not be enough to power all of them at the same time. So, when they detected nuclear weapon is being fired, the anti-nuclear shield will be powered on.

"If positron cannons are being fired, the lightwave barrier will go up?" Barzhakov asked.

"Yeah. So, predicting another wave of nuclear weapon, SALVATION would be unprepared for a powerful beam attack."

"An attack that sapped the whole ship's power as well as potentially burning Strike and Blitz to crisps," Thames said drolly.

"He did insist his mobile suit being called 'Devastated Strike'."

"Devastation Strike. What I don't understand," Enishi began, "is why we don't tell the whole plan to the fleet?"

"If we do that, then we will lose the only element of surprise that we have and the enemy could easily devise a counter to our strategy." Barzakhov said, sighing.

"I don't understand," Sammy said.

"It's easy to understand if you wonder about how a large ship like that can ambush the fleet easily."

* * *

A very powerful blast streaked toward Strike Freedom. Instinctively Kira controlled one of its units to block it. As the shot dispersed, he was surprised to see the unit. "AURORA?" he asked, confused. He looked at the display at his bottom left. The screen showed that apart from the eight Super DRAGOONs, Strike Freedom's control was linked to another twelve more units: six Zwilling Lanze and six AURORAs. The new additions were housed on a mobile armor which seemed to be made from Fallen's body parts._ Wait_, he corrected himself. The mobile armor provided Fallen with armor, just like the Fortressa or Shroud extension used by others

"I didn't expect you to see through my plan," a calm male, yet disturbingly familiar voice announced its presence.

"Who are you?"He asked as the radar displayed the arrival of something larger than his own mobile suit.

It was definitely larger. The 60 meters-high towering abomination was more than thrice Strike Freedom's height. Despite the height, there was no mistaking the mobile suit in its chest, as if it was controlling the whole thing. "Just like my mobile suit's name, I am the Deliverer, the deliverer of the peace for the whole world. However, you'll probably call me by another name: Rau La Creuset."

"Creuset!" Kira exclaimed as Strike Freedom took a defensive pose. "What are you doing here? I'll stop your plan to have humankind destroy itself two years ago and I will do it again."

A face appeared to him and while he could see the almost uncanny resemblance, the person was younger than what Creuset was supposed to be.

"That's where you're wrong," the man said. "While I may be similar to Creuset or even your favorite Fllaga, I am not them. I am Rey Za Burrel."

"I still will stop you from destroying the world."

"And I insist that you're wrong. Unlike Creuset, my objective is to save the world and the humankind, not destroying them."

"I don't believe you."

"Oh, perhaps that's so. However, I do think you're inclined to agree with me that if humanity continues on with the current path, eventually, it will destroy itself."

* * *

Archangel slowly moved to Minerva's back, all the while maintaining its velocity correctly. It wouldn't do to accidentally crash into the other ships; they had lost few of their ships to that kind of mishap.

"Archangel here," Murrue said as she was connected to the other ship. "We have positioned our ship, along with the other escorts ships behind Minerva. Now, can you tell me the reason for this maneuver?"

Talia's face appeared. "THIS."

The Archangel's forehead wrinkled as she didn't understand what the other person was implying.

"Captain!" Mirrialia called from her console.

Two seconds later, Murrue got her answer as she watched another display. "You must be joking!"

Talia shook her head. "I'LL LET YOU KNOW THAT I'M NOT A HUMOROUS PERSON."

A message flashed on the main screen by Mir, informing her that Lacus had landed onboard.

Murrue turned toward her, stunned by the information. She then readdressed Talia. "What are you planning?"

Mark appeared on another screen. "I UNDERSTAND. POCAHONTAS AND SOME OF THE CONFEDERATION'S SHIPS WILL JOIN IN THE OPERATION."

"Not you too," Murrue said. "What are you thinking?"

"MINERVA WOULD LIKE TO GET CLOSE ENOUGH TO USE ITS POSITRON CANNON."

"Is this true, Captain Talia?"

Talia nodded. "CHERUBIM'S STRATEGY HAD SHOWN US THAT THE SHIP WASN'T AS INVINCIBLE AS WE THOUGHT. LADY CLYNE SUGGESTS THAT WE ATTACK THE SHIP HEAD ON."

"Wait…" Murrue stopped in midst of her words because of the look Talia gave her. It was telling her not to say anything. Then it made sense to her. Lacus would never order such thing, not if she ended up leaving the ship. It was Talia's plan after all. That was why she had sent Lacus to Archangel; she knew that it would be risky. But why did she go to several lengths to hide it? Couldn't she just detail the plan out?

The answer was quite obvious.

Their channel was probably being monitored by the enemy or even worse, there were traitors in the combined fleet.

That was why Cherubim never contact them and instead worked alone. It also explained why Minerva would lead the attack directly; if Lacus had suggested such attack, she would never cower behind others.

"Very well, I understand. As much as I am against her risking her life, I will provide full support."

Murrue didn't really like deceiving everyone else in the fleet, not when it involves them sacrificing themselves to protect Lacus onboard Minerva; she wasn't there in the first place. It had to be done though. If she or Mark died, their respective governments would survive. But if Lacus died, there was no telling what would happen to PLANTs administration. That was why Talia sent Lacus to her; the Minerva's captain had no doubt that Archangel would protect her.

"However, tactically it made sense for the other ships to protect Minerva until it gets into range. We can't have it destroyed beforehand," she continued.

Talia didn't seem prepared for what she said as a look of uncertainty crossed her face. "LADY CLYNE AGREED TO YOUR SUGGESTION," she said finally.

The door opened and a not so pleased Lacus emerged, followed by Meyrin and Heine. But before she could say anything, Murrue gestured her to keep quiet. "When shall we begin the operation?"

"AFTER FALLEN GOT THROUGH THE SHIP'S DEFENSE."

* * *

As her rabid yellowish eyes tracked the DRAGOON units chasing after Fallen, Fllay fought to maintain her focus amidst the excruciating pain clawing at her body. She raised her head a bit and her helmet showed her the target that she should, no she would take out.

A DRAGOON moved in front of her and instinctively she destroyed it with Fallen's beam rifle, not noticing that it was what expected out of her. She had to release the weapon and moved away when it blew up after being shot by another DRAGOON. Two joysticks popped up from the sides and she took hold of them. Unlike the control she normally uses, the two of them allowed her to control Fallen's vectors to a very accurate degree; a very important perquisite for what she was about to do next.

"Plume de Lune: Over Thrust," she issued the verbal command.

Instantly all of Fallen's thrusters increased their throughput as dark orange mist was being released. Similar to other nuclear powered mobile suits, Fallen used electric propulsion and such system would entail ejecting small mass of propellant but at a very high speed. That was what differentiated it and the chemical propulsion that would produce a larger propellant mass moving at a lower speed. While the approaches were different, they were the same as they would produce the momentum required to push the mobile suit, as dictated by the physics Law of The Conversation of Momentum.

Any normal mobile suit designer would have try to strike out a balance between thrust generated by the propulsion and the mobile suit's mass as the mobile suit's agility would depend on how the two factors were balanced. He might probably seek to increase the propulsion even further. Electric engines were utilized very little onboard propellant, in the case of Voiture Luminaire, none, as it utilized used easily available photons or ions in space or atmosphere as propellants. However, that limited the kinetic energy that could be produced; it took decades of innovations for the electric propulsion designs to come up to the stage where they could match normal chemical propulsion.

Normal, as in normal flights.

Laymen would have wondered why the warring factions would settle using the cumbersome mobile armours and latter on, mobile suits instead of jet fighters that was prevalent in the pre-Cosmic Era. Even an advanced GOUF would have difficulty aiming its weapon at a jet plane that was cruising at Mach 2; sure, the ZAFT mobile suit was rather fast in space, but in the atmosphere, it was only as fast as an attack helicopter.

The answer would have surprised them. Unlike their ancestors, which were equipped with petroleum guzzling engines, their energy efficient engines only provided them enough power to move at a decent speed and in some rare cases like Strike Freedom and Destiny, at above normal speed. Of course, scientists, especially those working in the military, weren't content to rest in their laurels. Researches had been conducted on ways and methods to increase the speed of the propellants being discharged. However, the technology was evolving at a rather unsatisfactory rate.

Fallen's Plume de Lune, approached the problem from a starkly different angle. While it also used electric propulsion similar to Destiny and Strike Freedom, it could enter a stage similar to 'afterburning', a reference for the method used to increase speed on pre-CE jets by adding fuel to already burning exhaust gasses. In Fallen's case, however, it involved using other onboard substances together with the normal propellant. It was what allowed an already nimble Fallen to take advantage of a surprised Kira to capture his mobile suit. However, such performance entailed severe penalty.

"Warning, coolant level is dropping to seventy three point five two percent. Disengage Second Stage propulsion to prevent further coolant from being used," a monotonous female voice announced to Fllay.

The warning was simply ignored.

* * *

The Deliverer turned toward SALVATION, as if gesturing Kira to look at it. "As you correctly surmised, I've prepared a dual-pronged trap for you."

"Double trap?"

"Yes. SALVATION is a very powerful vessel and can engage most of its enemies, save for a very select few. Strike Freedom is one of them."

"That's why you took out Athrun's Infinite Justice earlier on."

"I was puzzled why it hadn't made an appearance yet. No matter, I assure you. That is an accident. Just like the targeting computer on Strike Freedom, SALVATION can acquire multiple enemies at the same time, but on a larger scale, that it's rather inconvenient to single out a single mobile suit. Besides, when my plan succeeds, an escaped gnat or two wouldn't really make a difference."

"What is this plan you're talking about?"

"Tsk… tsk… tsk… You haven't realized it yet. Well, no matter. As a sign of respect, I'll tell you all about it. My intention was to force you to do one of the following: protect the fleet, or attack SALVATION. Protect the fleet and SALVATION will destroy it from a distance or pursue SALVATION and have me destroy the fleet instead."

"You scum!"

"It would have been a perfect plan, if not for a single miscalculation I made. Fallen's pilot. The fight that both of you had was so real that I didn't think that the pilot was in cohorts with you. I have to admit, it shocked me to see you sacrificing her to destroy SALVATION"

"What did you say?" Kira said as his hands were trembling.

"Don't be defensive. I'm complimenting you. Look at her. Compared to everybody else, she had a very high of reaching SALVATION unharmed. If you have gone in her place, you'll probably be cut down to pieces. The data we have on all pilots are supposed to ensure that no one can stand up to the defense system but yet there she is, slowly making progress. That was why I was forced to reveal myself."

"You mean…" Kira began as Fllay's words came back to his mind.

"_Yes, stop you."_

"_I thought I made it really clear. I'm to stop you here."_

"_But while you're attacking that ship, I'll have to amuse myself with some other mean. For example… maybe I will attack Archangel… or would I be interested in destroying Minerva?"_

"_As it is, if you continue on with the attack, not only you will fail, but you will also ensure the destruction of Minerva..."_

"_I'm being honest here. Think, if I didn't attack you but just wait until you're preoccupied with SALVATION, I could've cut an easy path through the fleet's defense."_

"She…" The whole ramification of her actions suddenly made sense to him. She didn't want him to attack SALVATION because she somehow knew about its defense.

"_You... you're making me feel… loved"_

"Don't do it…"

"_I'm scared about something, something that I need to warn..."_

Fallen kept dodging numerous attempts to destroy it while at the same time getting nearer and nearer.

"_Kira, I can't do that. Because… because it will be more painful for me if we're apart. Every day I thought about you, Kira, that to do that is impossible."_

"Fllay, listen to me…" he called out. "Stop it…."

"DON'T DO IT!"

* * *

1

* * *

**Author's note (9 July 2008)**

1. Tada... the final boss makes his appearance. More on him will be revealed later on in the next chapter.

2. Basically, I'm still trying to finish the final chapter but I think I'll manage to wrap everything in July

* * *


	63. Rey Za Burrel's wish

"Warning, coolant level is at fifty three point two percent. Suggested action, deactivate Plume de Lune," Fallen's computer announced but like the previous warnings, it was ignored.

Fllay looked at the spot where SALVATION's power plants would most likely be located. The vector solution was nearly achieved as well. She was about to flick a switch when she paused. It was rather strange but it was as if she could listen to Kira's voice calling out to her. She shook her head to clear it off his voice and continued with her action. A countdown time appeared on one of the screens.

The computer had just indicated that it had almost computed a trajectory straight to SALVATION when one of those remote controlled mobile armour equipped with DRAGOONs descended upon her mobile suit. She was about to destroy it when to her consternation, everything suddenly became fast. "What the…"

Fallen's head was destroyed, depriving Fllay of its primary sight capability. The situation would be degenerate more and more if she didn't take action to correct it. However, it was said than done because in order to do that she needed to reactivate her APEX and it wouldn't be easy as it was deactivated against her will; her body was almost at its limit.

But simply accepting that wouldn't be enough because some way or another, SALVATION needed to be stopped. Unless Terrence as well as her prediction was wrong, Kira would be fighting against someone else. Therefore it would be up to her to succeed.

It was extremely hard to do so since she could barely keep her eyes open. At the same time, very small but audible voice inside her told her to take it easy and let herself fall into the much needed sleep that was slowly blanketing her. It was so easy to just let her eyes close…

"_You're going to betray me again, Fllay?" _Kira's voice asked. The fact that the question was asked in a very neutral and somewhat casual manner made it more accusing.

Instantly the Fallen's eyes shot opened and she felt the world began to slow again as she had somehow attained APEX again. She knew that Kira wasn't the one who would accuse her that and it was just her imagination, but it had did its job of reminding her of the reason why she was attacking SALVATION.

As she cleared how the final obstacle that stood between her and SALVATION, Fllay reminded herself why she accepted her ability even though she knew that it would be to her detrimental. Even before she remembered him, she was fighting to create a better future. Yes, it was for the future, the future where her beloved Kira would live.

Fallen had a clear path towards her target.

"Committing to Extreme Boost." Fllay said as she pressed the boost buttons.

Fallen began to glow as it used its pilot's oxygen supply to burn the combustible coolant. Forced through Fallen's wing boosters, the thrust appeared as a pair of very large wings, few times larger than itself. Apart from distorting any beam shots aimed at it, the resulting phenomena caused the black mobile suit to be called by the battle's survivors with another nickname: fallen phoenix.

It flew like a phoenix indeed, a majestic bird on its final flight.

A soft gasped escaped Kira's mouth when Fallen crashed into SALVATION and exploded, triggering other explosions as well. After all of them had subsided, the ship was still intact, though it was clear that it couldn't use its bombardment attack anymore.

"_Kira, please. I…," she released her hand and looked down, "love… you."_

"FLAAAAYYYYY!" Kira screamed but to no avail.

Rey clucked his tongue in slight annoyance. "I guess maybe that's why Gilbert said that APEX and SEED holders are probably going to lead humanity to ruins rather than the next evolution. Then again, I shouldn't complain because despite the difference in abilities, I would certainly be defeated by her."

"Fllaaayyy…" Kira whispered while his body trembled, not paying any attention to what the other person said.

Even though she was lost in what she called as her insanity, Fllay Allster wasn't just any person. While not as gifted in strategic planning as Lacus and Gilbert or in tactic as displayed by Kira and Athrun, she was also capable of making her plan. Her plan was simple but yet intricate at the same time.

She would manipulate Kira's feelings to her advantage.

Involved in what could be described as a strange relationship with him, she knew him very well; in fact, the only person who might know him as well was Lacus. However, since Lacus wasn't the villainess who used him in the first war, the pink princess wouldn't know certain aspects of him that Fllay knew.

Hence, Lacus wouldn't know how to rouse his anger and hopefully his hatred.

Fllay understood very well that Terrence's strategy to attack SALVATION would require either Strike Freedom or Fallen to be sacrificed; the other mobile suits and their pilots wouldn't even dream of reaching it at all. As expected, he wanted it to be Strike Freedom and despite other reasons, Kira was the only one who had a good chance of succeeding. In return, Fllay and Fallen would protect Lacus.

However, Fllay wouldn't accept that. She didn't know why it was the case: since Kira 'left' her, she found it very easy to achieve her APEX state, though it was still inferior to the one possessed by the LOGOS pilots; the ability was still limited by time. Armed with that ability and her mobile suit, Fllay had become the best person for the mission.

If Kira didn't stop her, that is.

Being the man he was, there was no way she could convince Kira to let her do it even if they could find ways to communicate. Once he found out, he would insist to be the one attacking SALVATION. Fllay wouldn't let that happen because of two facts. One, she loved him too much to let that happen and two, being selfish, she couldn't stomach the thought of having to protect the person he really loved, Lacus. Thus, she plotted and came out with a plan to get him to hate her. Hence, under the pretext of wanting to kill Lacus, she forced Kira to fight her.

The skirmish also served to distract their enemy who would of course wait to see what was developing while Cherubim launched a surprise attack. If the attack was enough to destroy SALVATION, then Fllay, according to the script that she wrote, would be distracted enough that Strike Freedom would strike her down. Of course, being part of an irregular military, Cherubim's group would never reveal their secret plan and Kira would never found out about it.

In case the attack failed, and the ship survived, as what had happened, Fllay would launch an attack on it, with Kira almost certain not to stop her.

Even though her plan of angering Kira succeeded, she had made a critical mistake. She underestimated his feelings towards her, thinking that he really couldn't harbor anything toward the _monster_ that used him to get revenge for her father's death. Fllay also didn't expect Kira to found out about her plan from Rey Za Burrel.

Hatred and love were two conflicting but yet similarly powerful emotions. Love, when transcended into a selfish obsession could easily become hatred. The inverse had happened to Kira. Once Kira found out about what she was doing, he was simply overwhelmed beyond reason.

Instead of getting him to hate her forever, Fllay's action had ensured that she would be the only person in his mind. Just like what he had did to her, Fllay unwittingly had ruined Kira's ability to love anyone else like the way he loved her.

"Fllay…" Kira whispered again.

Not realizing the state of mind the other man was in, Rey continued on with the explanation. "Azrael and Blue Cosmos members, they were so engrossed in trying to stop the 'pollution' of nature by Coordinators that they themselves had become a threat to it. Patrick Zala and perhaps even Rau La Creuset were in the position to stop them in the first war. However, both of them were preoccupied with their respective grief that instead of becoming saviors, they had become the destroyers as well."

"What did you do it? Why?" the Strike Freedom's pilot sobbed softly.

Rey still didn't notice that Kira was ignoring him. "Gilbert saw that the peace that follows the first war wasn't a real one, the calm before the storm if you may say. He felt that in order to achieve lasting peace, Blue Cosmos had to be removed totally."

The Fllaga's clone proceeded to reveal that when Gilbert found out that Blue Cosmos was just a puppet of LOGOS, the plan was modified to include them as well. Unfortunately, because of the situation then, the plan couldn't be carried out because of the Junius Seven Treaty. If he declared war out right, the PLANTs population's backlash would be great and Earth population would react negatively towards Coordinators. That was when he decided to use LOGOS's predictable way of thinking to his advantage. By dangling the baits in the form of the Second Stage mobile suits in Armory One, he had invited them to attack head on.

However, Phantom Pain managed to achieve their mission, something Gilbert didn't expect. He had planned for the thieves to be captured and then exposed them to the world. That was the only snag in the plan as the brigade had unwittingly helped to ensure that a part of Junius Seven be dropped successfully on Earth. The result of that was a severely weakened Alliance that announced war on PLANTs prematurely.

At first, Rey followed Gilbert faithfully, enamored with his vision of a peaceful world. In fact, he even idolized the man as a hero because of his work to create a world without fighting, a world where Naturals and Coordinators can live together without any prejudice, united under the aegis of the Destiny plan. That changed when to his consternation, he found out that Gilbert became drunk with power and Destiny was just a way to control the world. Sure, there would be peace, but humanity's freedom would be lost.

While ORB leaking the detail of Destiny Plan had put a damper in his plan, it wasn't until Lacus making an appearance to discredit him that Gilbert was forced to use his ace. SALVATION. The unstoppable behemoth. He had planned for the ship to attack the peace summit that would be attended by all parties and use the opportunity to get rid of Confederation's military commander, Lacus and Djibril in one swoop, ensuring that his enemies' chain of commands would be crippled.

Kira barely heard what was being said to him as the scene of Fallen slamming into SALVATION, followed by Fllay's desperate proclamation that she loved him played in his mind repeatedly.

"He would have forced Destiny Plan on everyone. That's when I decided to do the right thing. It was a good thing that I became LOGOS' double agent earlier in the war. At first, it was a way to help Gil, but I never thought that I would use it to stop him. I leaked our ships' position to Djibril and sure enough the warmonger managed to kill him. A good thing too as Gilbert hasn't relayed any order to SALVATION. The crew was handpicked by him because of their loyalty to him, you know. It took some convincing on my part, but I managed to persuade them that this is what their Chairman wanted. Probably because I am his foster son. So, here I am, in front of you, asking you to join me."

"Join you?" Kira parroted numbly, his mind and soul in total chaos.

"Yes. Join me. The only way the world would be in peace is to force a war on it, on everyone be it in PLANTs and Earth, a war so great that when it ended, humankind would never again have any desire for such a thing. Of course, it would have been pretty difficult to achieve that if not for all army having exhausted themselves in these few months. So how about it? Perhaps we'll end up dying, but we'll leave a peaceful world for our loved one"

The angry stab from Freedom was barely blocked.

"What's wrong?" Rey asked calmly.

"She… she… SHE'S ALREADY DEAD!" Kira screamed.

"That's why you must join me and ensure such thing will never happen again."

Gritting his teeth, Kira answered, his SEED-enhanced eyes blazing with anger and self contempt. "She died to ensure that I will be spared! It was supposed to be me!"

"What are you talking about?"

"I told her that she was forgiven. Yet, I used her again and again only to betray her feeling towards me in the end."

It didn't take much for Rey to arrive to a conclusion. "You're talking about Fallen's pilot, don't you? Why do you care so much for her?"

"I love her."

The answer was very short and concise, but by admitting that, Kira finally admitted the real reason pertaining to his actions regarding her. Why he was willing to beat up his friend Sai. Why he was so angry with Creuset. Why he felt jealous when he saw that she was rather friendly with Mir and Fllaga but yet acted as if she didn't know him. Why he had succumbed to his lust numerous times when the two of them were alone and why he felt the guilty happiness while basking in the glow after they had made love.

In retrospect, it would also explain why he hadn't gone all the way in his relationship with Lacus. It wasn't really because he considered himself as dirty and she was clean, though that was part of a reason. He couldn't because if he did, then he would be betraying Fllay. He loved Lacus, he really did. However, even before he knew that Fllay was alive, he had that nagging doubt at the back of his mind that he would be able make Lacus happy and make himself happy in return.

His impossible wish for the redhead lover to come back had been fulfilled, was served on a silver platter even. But yet, he rejected her, and pretending to be a conscientious man, he pushed her away, even though at the same time he harbored the dark and selfish desire for her to be his and his alone; no other man should have her. She had fulfilled even that dark wish, by sacrificing herself to defeat SALVATION.

"That's why," Kira began softly, but audible to Rey, "I will defeat you. I don't know whether my action now is right or wrong, but I swear that I will stop you."

"I see," Rey said. Then Deliverer kicked Freedom away. "I apologize for making such a rude suggestion to you."

* * *

"Block 42 has been hit! Ammonia leakage in Block 54A. Redirecting energy supply from Block 112 to 143." Enishi announced as he tapped some commands into his console.

"Why don't you just use English and say that we're screwed?" Barzhakov said as an explosion rocked the ship.

"Terrence! It's your fault that our ship is a sitting duck!" Thames growled.

"Hey, I told everyone that the ship would experience a power shortage so severe that even its defense would be off," Terrence said defensively. "Besides, it's Strike and Blitz job to protect the ship, isn't it?"

"We don't even know that they are still alive or not," Sammy said before the screens in front of her came to life. Likewise, everything came back online. "The power generation is sufficient enough for CIWS to be operational."

"Where the hell is the spare battery I asked five minutes ago?" a face on her console appeared, looking pissed off.

Sammy wanted to tell him that the ship was crippled because of the power outage but decided against it. "It's on the way."

A very powerful explosion rocked Cherubim's bow.

Barzhakov lighted up his pipe again. Upon receiving a dirty look from Sammy, he shrugged. "The ship is heavily damaged and smoke probably filled other sectors already, so a little more wouldn't hurt."

Another tremor spread through the ship as remains of a SALVATION mobile armour crashed into its bow side.

* * *

"As expected, they're targeting Minerva," Talia said as a Drake-class ship that was escorting her ship succumbed to an implosion. It was ironic that the ship's captain, whose rather laidback drawl suggested that he hailed somewhere from Texas in Atlantic Federation, sacrificed his ship to protect hers when just a month ago would do anything to destroy it.

A loose group of ZAKUs equipped with Gunner Wizard managed to break through the defensive net surrounding Minerva and position themselves above Minerva's bridge. At that position, even its bunker wouldn't be able to withstand a direct shot. However, the Drake-class ship captain saw what was about to happen and moved between the attackers and Minerva, taking the hits instead.

"Athrun! Destroy them!" Talia commanded rather emotionally.

"Understood," Athrun, who commandeered a red GOUF replied before moving in to engage the ZAKUS.

Lunamaria, who had tagged behind him, moved toward another direction to attack a Nazca ship whose commander had turned rogue and decided to side with SALVATION. Talia sighed. They were so worried that that some of Confederation's ships would betray them that they didn't think one of their own would do it.

"I never thought to see something like this, Captain," a man said.

She sighed. "Me too, Arthur. First, you breaking the regulation and came onboard as a stowaway and now, an Alliance ship taking the hit for us."

"You're complaining about me even though you held Lacus at a gun point just now?"

"Don't remind me about that," Talia groaned. "It'll really tarnish my reputation.

Knowing very well that Lacus wouldn't even think of abandoning Minerva, Talia forced her to leave the ship, saying that it was her ship in the very first place. Predictably, the pink princess didn't cooperate. Heine and Meyrin were at least more understanding of the situation and could see why she acted they way she did; they didn't agree with it nevertheless. After all, what she intended to do was simply put: suicidal.

But she couldn't simply put the ship on an autopilot and hoped that it would shoot Tanhausser by itself. The safety system would only allow either Talia or her second in command, Arthur to issue a fire order.

"How far are we from the projected location?" Talia asked.

A stray shot hit the ship's bow prevented Arthur from answering the question immediately. He touched his left shoulder gingerly; a sharp edge from a broken equipment was lodged in it. "It's…," he stopped for a moment when he saw that the screen that was supposed to show the exact time to the target was broken. "Ten minutes," he lied, pretending that he got the information from the screen. He was sure that it was less that, but he didn't dare to take that risk. Sure, ten minutes seconds was a very long time in that situation, but hopefully Minerva would be able to survive that long.

* * *

"In a sense, Kira Yamato, I owe you my life."

"What are you talking about?"

"You, sorry, your father, _the_ real father, is a real monster whose greed can only be matched by Djibril or other LOGOS members. He wanted you to be the best. Your sister too if not because of your mother's opposition."

"What is your point?"

"I'm sure Creuset has told you about people wanting to be like you, be special."

"And I told him that it doesn't matter!"

"You're wrong. It does matter. When you were born, some people suddenly become very worried. What happens if you develop a thirst for power and position? Of course, you are nothing like your father, but at that time, they have no way of knowing."

"So…"

"They took a precautionary measure. The only way to defeat a special human is by creating another special human. Me. All this while I have been hiding my abilities, letting other people color the world they want… but now my name will be remembered along with Mozart, along with Alexander the great… because I'm like them after all."

The technology had advanced a lot since a sheep was first cloned. Just as a wanted gene could be spliced for use to create Coordinator babies, it wasn't that difficult to manipulate telomeres so that they would be longer, henceforth solving the rapidly aging problem that the first few clones faced. In fact, Coordinators got their longevity from their telomeres being artificially lengthened. However, Ulen Hibiki, when he created Al de la Fllaga's clones, had neither patience nor passion to reengineer their telomeres correctly as he was very involved in his sick dream of creating the ultimate human. Because of that, the clones had very short life.

Unfortunately, his detractors, while denouncing his cruelty, did the same thing with Rey Za Burrel. It was planned that way so that Rey would never live long enough to acquire a thirst for power. They created him so that he would kill Kira Yamato and for that purpose only he would live. However, their carefully thought out plan failed to take into consideration of his own free will.

"Kira Yamato, I was very rude to suggest that you join up with me, not realizing that your lover had died in order to stop SALVATION. To atone for my earlier rudeness, I will do my best to kill you."

"So, you want to take revenge on me?" Kira asked.

"Take revenge for something you don't do? Yes, I'm Creuset physically but yet I am really Rey Za Burrel, my own person. I wouldn't do something pointless like that. I will kill you because you're a threat to my plan to create peace," Rey said as he activated his SEED ability. "That's all to it."

"Your plan is twisted!"

"You're focusing on the wrong thing. Rather than my plan, it is the world that is twisted." Deliverer launched all of its DRAGOONs. "My plan will correct that distortion."

Dodging the attacks rained on him from all directions, and in some cases used AURORAs to block them, Kira said, "That's why you're waging the war against it?"

"To create terror in people's heart, it needn't be something as big as SALVATION. All it need is something very horrifying. Something like a massacre. Everyone will learn that a madman named Creuset going amok and massacring everyone in order to instigate them to go to war each other." Rey chuckled. "Yes. I will kill and continue on killing until the horror of the act itself would be forever etched into humanity. Then there would be no war as people would be afraid for someone like me to rise once again."

"You think nothing of the human lives you're going to spill…"

Rey chucled. "That's further from the truth. I really value their lives. It's because I value them that I'm going to spill as much blood as I can. It's like caring for a sick tree. You must prune the dead and sick branches off in order to save the rest. The collateral damage is necessary in order create a new world."

"You're not going succeed." Kira said as he attacked using Strike Freedom's disconnected units.

Although it was bigger, Deliverer evaded the attacks easily. "Why? Because you're going to oppose me? Sadly, that's just a dream. Look. It's obvious that there's disharmony in your DRAGOON's movements." The mobile suit raised its hands just like a conductor whose concert was about to start. "Let me show you how it is done." It brought forth its right hand and few of its DRAGOON units counterattacked.

Kira neither couldn't believe how coordinated the attacks were nor Rey mocking him by not attacking directly. It was well known that remote units would have larger lag in response time.

"Creuset, Fllaga and unfortunately even you think that DRAGOONs are to be used to overwhelm their enemies."

Deliverer moved its left hand and few more units moved to intercept Kira's movement. "When two opponents have the same capabilities and skills, then other factors come in: number of weapons at disposal..." Rey smiled as Kira had to sacrifice one Super DRAGOONs to kill one of his own. "…and how well they use their weapons."

* * *

"We're receiving a distress signal from Cherubim," Mirrialia reported. "The ship is heavily damaged and it required support while the crew evacuates the ship. Pocahontas indicated that it will mount the rescue mission but requested we send one of our ace teams to help."

"What about our own situation?" Lacus asked.

"Our current strength is at twenty one point two percent, and all of our advanced mobile suits are engaged in the battle," Mirrialia answered. "Destiny and Shizuka are still in a standoff with the defenders… while Strike Freedom…"

"I know, I know. Where is Team Hahnenfuss? Perhaps we can move it to support."

"The whole team was wiped out while you're on transit," Murrue answered.

"Even her?" Lacus said.

"We can reposition Team Elsmann if you want to," Mirrialia suggested.

"Please do that." She mentally prayed that whatever Talia was planning to do, it better work. The longer the battle continued on, more casualties and deaths would be inflicted

* * *

"Are we there yet?" Talia asked as one by one Minerva's escorts fall prey to enemy's shots.

"Not yet," Arthur replied, struggling to keep his voice even. The shoulder injury was worse than he had thought. He already had trouble seeing clearly. "Two minutes and thirty seconds."

Oblivious to her man's problem, Talia continued, "Charge Tanhausser."

"Charging Tanhausser," Arthur said, skipping the safety procedures he was supposed to check.

"If our luck holds, we'll be in range soon."

But that was not to be. Ninety seconds before the designated time, their enemies managed to land few more shots.

"Main charging system is overheated. We'll have enough for a single shot," Arthur said.

"And it better be enough."

"The positron flow regulator was damaged."

"What?" The regulator was supposed to redirect all positrons at a correct vector; without it the ship would be able to fire, but there would be some positrons that would escape to the surrounding. Once a positron make contact with an electron, the resulting process would create a lot of energy; most of them would be heat and radiation. To make the matter short, Minerva would end up engulfed by a very large fireball.

Talia only hesitated for a second before she grab a communication piece. As Tanhausser began to deploy, she announced to Minerva's protectors, "This Captain Talia Gladys. We'll fire the positron cannon once the ship is in range, so please leave the ship's side immediately. I repeat, please leave immediately."

"How about you and Arthur, Captain?" Athrun asked.

Talia turned toward Arthur who shook his head weakly. Even from her station she could see that he had lost so much blood. "Someone needs to fire the cannon."

"Then let me…"

"SHUT UP, ALEX DEINO!" Talia shouted, using his alias as a reminder that just like in the earlier part of the war, Athrun was just an outsider. "This is my ship and I decide what to do." She pressed some switches and Minerva's CIWS began firing at Athrun's GOUF and Lunamaria's Impulse which were hovering nearby. Unequipped with a Phase Shift armor, Athrun had to retreat a bit.

Satisfied with what she achieved, Talia concentrated at the task at hand. "Are we there yet?"

"Captain," Arthur gurgled, almost losing his consciousness. "I know… it's… wrong, but… I like…"

He didn't finish his words.

Talia tipped her captain's head in a salutary manner. "I'm sorry… Arthur. I know about that all along but yet… I can't return your feeling." Even though that they were of different age and different stature, she knew that her second in command harbor some crush on her. That was probably the reason why he always made a fool of himself in her presence and it was also the reason why she always berated him; she wanted to make clear to him that their relationship would never be more than on a professional level.

She moved toward his station but an explosion slammed her to the ship's roof. Yet she soldiered on until she reached there. Smiling earnestly, she gave a soft smile laced with pain. "I don't know you'll be happy with this or not, but at least we'll die together," she said before she kissed his forehead while pressing the Tanhausser's trigger button.

Unencumbered by its safety system, Tanhausser's blast was three times more powerful but at the same time erratic. Even as Minerva slowly whittled away, the positron beam pierced through SALVATION's already weakened lightwave barrier before continuing on to the ship. The blast had expended ninety percent of its energy to break through the defense but the remaining energy was enough. When the blast hit the massive battlecruiser, it glowed for few seconds before exploding.

SALVATION had been defeated.

* * *

Despite knowing what happened to the massive ship, Rey could still take the time to look at his right hand. Strike Freedom wasn't really a threat as his remote units, controlled by his brain and assisted by Deliverer's computers, had suppressed it well. He clenched and unclenched his right hand, looking at it curiously. He felt strangely alive. Shinn would probably regret his action if he had known, but when Rey was having second thoughts about his plan it was his words that bolstered Fllaga clone's determination to follow his plan through.

As the real Rey, not the obedient and robot-like shadow he had hid behind. "Why do you continue to fight, Kira Yamato? Surely you have realized the futility of your resistance?"

Kira gasped for breath, having escaped being killed just few seconds prior. Creuset… no, Rey Za Burrel was a very powerful man indeed. In just a few minutes, he had forced Kira into a battle of attrition, steadily reducing Strike Freedom's weapons. He only had two super DRAGOONs, two Zwiling Lanze and four AURORAs left at his disposal.

A very disadvantageous position indeed, since the enemy had more than twenty DRAGOONs left.

"Your movement had been sealed by me. It's not too much of a stretch to say that I already saw your future." Rey's voice continued to taunt him.

"_Someone told me that a SEED carrier can see the future. However, that statement isn't really correct in the first place. Thinking back about our previous fight in Berlin, If I have to say it, by having SEED ability, you somehow have an ability to manipulate your way to having the future that you envisioned take place." _

"_SEED ability is just like a super computer in a game of chess." _

"_The only sadder thing about SEED holders thinking that they could see the future is the fact that they could easily be manipulated into fulfilling other people's desired future as well,"_

Kira's eyes widened as he finally understand Fllay's words.

"You are a worthy opponent indeed, Kira Yamato," Rey said as he finally prepared to end other man's life. "But this is the end for you._ Sayonara._" All of his DRAGOONs opened fire.

They hit nothing.

Rey searched for the mobile suit that was supposed to be trapped in his beam web and couldn't believe his eyes when he saw that it had remained at its vector, not moving at all. "How in the world did you manage to see through the attack?"

"I don't want to be in your future," Kira said almost cryptically.

"I don't get what you're saying but it seems that you managed to escape because of pure luck. Lightning never strikes twice in the same place!" he said he attacked again.

This time, Kira managed to destroy two of Deliverer's DRAGOONs without losing any of his. "But in reality, it does."

"Getting arrogant, aren't you?" Rey said, his voice raising slightly.

Once again, Kira found himself surrounded by his enemy's DRAGOONs. Tactically, it would be a mistake to remain at his current position, but it would be a bigger mistake to move down to the spot where five remote units were waiting. The best move to take would be to increase boost by twenty percent in forward direction for two seconds, baiting his attackers to converge on him, then based on the projected paths, move left while increasing the speed to fifty percent, turn at fifty meter radius and finally move straight to Deliver.

Because Deliverer was good at middle range to long range engagement, gargantuan mobile suit would certainly put the distance between the two of them. With that taken into consideration; while it can respond in four ways, Deliverer would send two units to lay down harassing fire on Freedom while moving three units to ambush him from behind. Countering it would entail Freedom dropping its thrust by twenty percent while increasing the vernier thrusters on Freedom's right to full hundred percent. The resulting movement would bring him directly into Deliverer's path, allowing him to at least damage it a bit.

That move should ensure his victory but Kira didn't do it and instead dove straight toward the five waiting units. As expected, they seemed to be oblivious to his gambit and instead began to move toward the position where he would be if he took the supposedly _'best move'_. Kira narrowed his eyes as Freedom slashed them in space scraps using its beam sabers.

He had confirmed his suspicion. Rey had outthought him in regards to tactics. It was similar to what happened in the fight between him and Fllay. He had thought of best tactics to defeat her but forgot one thing. Tactics would only be effective if the opponent made a predicted move; a move that would of course seemed to be the most beneficial to them. Only then could a tactic be devised to counter that move. That was where SEED ability came in, giving the boost in its holder's ability to come up with such tactic in such a short time.

Against normal pilots whose reaction time was marginally slower, it would seem as if SEED holders could see the future indeed. However, against APEX holders whose reflexes were comparable, the ability fell apart. All APEX holders that he fought followed their instincts when fighting, although in many cases it was clear that the moves they made weren't tactically sound. But that same fact was what caused them to be unpredictable and therefore difficult to defeat.

"I pity you," Kira said softly.

"Pity me? You must be joking."

"You really care for the world, aren't you?"

"Of course."

"Sadly, even while saying that, you don't have anyone that you love…"

"What… how…" Rey questioned.

"If you have someone that you love, and that person love you back, then you would know what you want to do is wrong. For the sake of creating a peaceful world you're going to spill a lot of blood, not caring whether they're civilians or military, Naturals or Coordinators. Didn't you think about how much pain and hurt you're going to cause to their families, lovers and friends?"

"It's all for the sake of the world!"

"Right now… knowing that you're responsible for this, I really want to kill you. Yet, it must be lonely being you, not knowing how it felt to be loved. Even if it caused me endless pain right now, at least I was fortunate to know her."

"Shu… shut up!" Rey shouted as his remaining DRAGOONs chased after Strike Freedom. His anger fogged his mind for just two seconds, but the two seconds was too long. Freedom was directly in front of Deliverer, its body facing toward the same direction as Deliverer's.

"Then again, that's why it really hurt so much." Strike Freedom brought out its beam saber, held it in a reverse grip. "Good bye," Kira said as Freedom activated its beam saber and stabbed backward. The saber pierced Deliverer's central core, not far away from where Rey's cockpit was situated.

Even in the split second, his adversary smiled as he knew what would come next. In his moment of weakness, Kira Yamato had seized the victory from his hand and he would die. Even then he couldn't help but wonder which path was the correct way to take; his by creating a new world from the ashes of the old one, or Kira's, who protect the current world hopping that it would change for the better.

"Well, then, Kira Yamato, I guess we'll have to let the history judge our respective actions, don't we?" he asked while closing his eyes, accepting death that was already knocking at the door.

"If you survive, then please look after the world that I love so that another me..."

His words were lost into the vast nothingness as Deliverer exploded.

* * *

"Kira…"

Safely onboard Archangel's bridge, Lacus sobbed as Strike Freedom was swallowed by Deliverer's explosion. To her relief, once it had abetted, Strike Freedom's libless body was detected floating aimlessly, its Phase Shift armor probably what saved him.

Without prompting, Mirrialia was already contacting his mobile suit. She narrowed her eyebrows when the mobile suit, although its communication system was working, didn't return her call. She checked the to reach toward him only to be turned away.

There was that other dark feeling inside him that he was made aware of just recently. He somehow knew that Fllay was tortured by their separation. Strangely though, he felt guiltily happy about that. The pain that Fllay felt meant that she couldn't stand being apart from him. Kira liked that as it meant that Fllay was his and only his alone.

She was, without any doubt, his.

And yet he had cast her away.

He, with her help and everyone else, had stopped the war and probably the world itself, but to him, it felt hollow without her.

Kira gave in to his inner turmoil and let out a heart wrenching sob.

* * *

1

* * *

**Author's note (13****th**** July 2008)**

1. I told Nick that this chapter can be considered an ending by itself, which will be superseded by the next one. Okay, when I started Fallen Angel, I aimed for this ending, and resisting all this time to tell anyone about this scene, I've finally managed to write this. Good thing I didn't tell anyone too, because it would have reduced my motivation to write by getting instant gratification.


	64. Dandelions in the summer time

Five years had passed since the last war, but yet Cagalli found herself wondering whether some man would ever grow up, especially the one on the television she was watching in her office.

The blonde male in the screen laughed jovially, confusing some of the reporters that could surrounding him. _"Let's see… There's a rumor going on that I'm in an affair with someone, is it?"_

"_Is it true, Mr. Fllaga?" _a woman boldly asked. _"We have unnamed sources that revealed, if I may quote their words, 'the author of the best-selling The rise of an angel series was seen with one Maria Bernes' in Sicily in July last year."_

Mwu shrugged. _"July… Ah, I guess your sources are correct."_

"_How come her name is similar to one of the characters in your book?" _another reporter, this time a man, asked.

Mwu laughed again. _"Well, the similarities are there, I guess." _

"_How about your wife, the mother of your two children? What does she say about this?"_

"_Murrue? Honestly, I think she's fine with it."_

Upon hearing that statement, the reporters began raining him with more and more questions.

Cagalli angrily pressed the button on the remote. "Remember, the television is innocent…. The television is innocent…. Must not smash the television..."

While they were still friends, Cagalli was still annoyed with the man for what he wrote in the books. The supposedly fictional story featured a hero by the name of Myo Acre as he fought against the Zeon Alliance, piloting the highly advanced Liberty mobile suit. Of course, no good story would be without some romance thrown in. Mayo found himself trapped between the love triangle between the ship's voluptous captain Maria Bernes and the strong-willed Carrey Dinar, the princess of the Sphere Colony who accidentally ended up on the ship. In the newest book, Mayo found himself having to fight Zeon Alliance's masked ace by the name of Geo. It turned out that the masked ace was his former wingmate by the name of Kuro Takato who was captured and brainwashed.

Cagalli could almost see how the next book would turn out. Mayo would probably square off against another pilot by the name of Jin Shizuka who would be piloting a mobile suit named Momentum and lost Liberty in the fight. But lo and behold, he would bounce back, piloting the new and improved Assault Liberty.

She sighed.

The ORB representative didn't care much for the cheesy storyline. Perhaps she was in the minority since the books were consistently best sellers, prompting speculations that there would be movies based on them. However, she still couldn't stomach the fact that Carrey Dinar, which was blatantly based on her, was so lovey-dovey with the hero. She didn't remember being attracted to Mwu.

"Maybe I can still send to him the repair bills for Shizuka. After all, right now he's rich and can afford it…"

"_Lady Cagalli," _Kisaka'svoice interrupted her musing, _"there are some visitors here to visit you,"_

Her first impulse was to tell him to turn them away but then she realized normally, he would do that by his own accord. His announcing to her about them probably meant that she wanted to met them. Cagalli stood and opened the curtain to her office, letting more light to enter. "I'm free for the hour, so show them in."

"_Very well."_

A minute later, the door opened slightly and a small blue-haired girl peeked cautiously before retreating back. _"I thought that we're going to visit Auntie Cagalli?"_ her muffled voice could be heard asking someone. _"She is not there, mom."_

The door fully opened, this time revealing Lunamaria and the girl. She looked at Cagalli and then at the girl. "See? Here's you Auntie Cagalli."

"But he's a man, not a princess. Look at his… um… dress," the girl argued.

"Sherryl!" her mother shushed.

Cagalli rolled her eyes. Even if the girl wasn't a spitting image of her father, she would know; the girl had inherited his ability to annoy her with remarks regarding her way of dressing. However, getting mad with such a cute girl was quite hard and Cagalli found herself breaking into a soft smile at her antics. "Ah, you must be the Sherryl. You look different in person."

"I am three years old!" the girl announced proudly. "Two years from now I'm going to enter kindergarten!"

The ORB representative asked a silent question at the girl's mother.

"Athrun thinks that it's better that we don't treat her like a studying machine," Lunamaria said.

"It's been a while since we met face to face. Video call doesn't count, off course. How long has it been?"

"Four years, I think. I guess everyone has been busy with the integration."

"Yeah…" Cagalli agreed. After the end of the second war, a new federation had been formed, comprising of every nations in the Earthsphere. The United Nation Integration Treaty or known as UNITY strove to bring Naturals and Coordinators together, realizing that both have similarities; each had their respective strengths and weaknesses as well. In just five years, it had gone a long way with its efforts and many possible conflicts have been averted. However, that didn't mean that it could rest on its laurel. "But I'm happy with the progress we made."

"Oh, right. I forgot. Here are some sandwiches I brought along," Lunamaria said as she handed a container to Cagalli. "Figured that you might like them."

"You shouldn't have," Cagalli said but then her stomach betrayed her by making a growling noise. "I guess I should have one," she said as she took a turkey sandwich. Taking a bite, her eyes widened but she continued chewing thoughtfully. "Isn't this Mary Poppin's?" she asked.

"Wow, you do know your stuff!"

"Of course! They're to die for. But I'm surprised that you're able to bring them here. Even the franchise here in ORB doesn't do takeaway; something to do with only fresh sandwiches for its customers... I understand its policy, but I can't be seen at the shop everyday as it would give the impression that I only like the food there and not at other places."

"Well, that's why I only bring you the keep warm special container."

"But how did you get them to agree with it…"

Lunamaria Zala smiled coyly. "I blackmailed one of the owners and she quickly caved in to my request," she said.

Despite her making the remark, Lunamaria was quite proud with her sister. Sure, at first she did have her doubt when Meyrin suddenly announced that she was leaving the military and set up a sandwich café in PLANTs together with Heine Westenfluss. For the life of her, Lunamaria didn't know why she decided to do sandwiches. Mary Poppins Pizza or Poppin's Burger did sound more appealing at that time. However, Meyrin once again surprised her by showing business acumen to complement Heine's culinary expertise.

It was rather strange that both sisters were associated with men that could cook better than them. While Lunamaria herself do cook for her family and she insisted on doing so, she couldn't quite match Athrun's prowess in the kitchen. Well, fair's fair as he sometimes couldn't keep up with _her _prowess in the bedroom.

"Why are you grinning like an idiot?" Cagalli asked.

"She is an idiot, hun" a male voice said.

Lunamaria snapped her face at the sound of the voice. "Shinn?"

"Yo," the said person said lazily while leaning on the main door, a file in his hand.

She noticed that somehow he had changed. The angry scowl etched on his face during the previous war was replaced with an expression so normal that it was unbelievable. Shinn somehow seemed _likeable._ "Where were you? We've been trying to search for your whereabouts for quite some time now?"

"Getting the file," he answered thought it wasn't the right answer to Lunamaria's question. He walked to Cagalli and handed it to her. "I'll be going to the convention centre to check up on the security preparation for the summit."

"Thanks."

Shinn didn't move.

"Well?"

"I want my tip for being the delivery boy." He leaned toward her.

Shinn's body covered Lunamaria's view but she didn't need much to infer what happened. Of course, Cagalli's flushed face after Shinn had retreated was a dead giveaway. Rather than bursting there and then, she waited until the man left the room. "Let me guess… Smart Aleck Deino?" she teased. "Or is it Alan Raptor this time?"

"Ha ha ha," Cagalli laughed drolly. "Just for the record, I didn't give Athrun the name he used."

"But honestly, you have to tell me how the hell the two of you, well… I was there," she said, referring to the less than amicable reception Cagalli got from Shinn when they first met in the second war.

"We settled our differences during 'the Rimane Test incident'. Well, from there on… things progressed naturally."

"Ah, I remember that incident. Athrun was involved as the commander of the new UN flagship and I was pregnant with Sherryl. The media was filled with leaked reports regarding full-scale training exercises but the terrorists were after mobile suits, weren't they?"

"Athrun aren't supp…"

"Oh, please, he didn't even tell me that he's assigned on that ship; only saying that he would be away for three months. I do have my own source," _"As in a sister who almost got caught once again breaking into the main defense computers."_

"Then I guess it wouldn't hurt to tell you a bit then. Shinn was a test pilot for the UNMS-02X Skyknight prototype. Somehow or another he ended up saving my life."

Lunamaria racked her head, trying to remember bits of information that she and her sister had read. UNITY government was conducting a competition to select the main mobile suit for its military force. As such, it had commissioned three prototypes. Beside Skyknight, there were UNMS-01X Thunderstorm, UNMS-03X Vanguard and UNMS-04X-Phalanx. Then, something crossed her mind. "I remember the other three… but there were four more mobile prototypes, aren't there?"

Cagalli was quiet for a moment. "The four aren't ours. Three of them were hostile and the last one… it was an unknown."

"Unknown?"

"I was there at that time. All I can say is that the prototype has unique design uninfluenced by Alliance, ZAFT and ORB. The weird thing is that the analysis we got is that the unknown didn't seem complete at that time."

"What do you mean?"

"Skyknight, Thunderstorm, Phalanx and Vanguards, despite being prototypes, were complete in the sense that they wouldn't differ much from the production models. However, the unknown was using weapons available in the second war. For example, we don't know how but it was using a MPG 2-5-2 beam machine gun alongside a heat whip from GOUF. Even then, its capability is estimated seventy percent of," Cagalli hesitated, "Strike Freedom."

Lunamaria subconsciously put a hand over her mouth as she remembered a piece of information. Kira Yamato was involved in the test program as well, as a test pilot for Vanguard. According to the scarce detail, he had perished when the terrorists group attacked the test side. It also succeeded in destroying Thunderstorm and Phalanx.

Cagalli smiled bittersweetly. "It's the first time he uses the 'I'm the older sibling, so I have to protect my sister' argument."

"I'm sorry that I brought up an unnecessary memory."

"It's okay now. You know, he made Shinn promise to take care of me, threatening to… in his words at that time… 'kick your useless butt to space and back' if he doesn't. Of course, Shinn said that at that time, the promise wasn't really required as he wouldn't even dream of leaving my side." Cagalli blushed slightly. "That idiotic jerk… even now he can be pretty romantic and still oblivious to what he is doing."

"Wait… You said that it was using Fallen's weapon? Perhaps Cherubim…"

"It was destroyed in the second war Luna, you saw its demise. Of course, some crews managed to survive and one of them is Barzhakov."

"So, where is he now?"

Cagalli shrugged. "You wouldn't believe me if I tell you."

There was a loud crash, interrupting their conversation. Sherryl had discovered the law of gravity also applied to a rare and expensive vase.

* * *

"They're not biting, are they, Comrade Robinson?" a slightly older Barzhakov who was lying on a chair asked the man next to him.

"Guess not," the former Confederation commander replied as he took a sip of lemonade. "But I saw you brought along some steak just in case, so I'm not really worried."

They were on a small boat in the middle of the vast Atlantic Ocean, watching a flock of bird flew by in their migratory pattern.

"Typical of Barzhakov to be optimistically pessimistic," Jacques heavily accented words caused the former Cherubim captain's face to go sour.

"You forgot that I once kicked you off your own ship; it wouldn't be hard to kick you off mine."

"Ah, always seek to remind me of the good old time. Feeling old, aren't we?"

"Damn," Barzhakov cursed. "He no longer reacts to that provocation."

"When you become a politician, Barzhakov, you learn to handle provocations worse than that, though you would be afflicted with blood pressure problems," Mark remarked. "Talking about pressure, Jacques, how about the one the government is facing?"

"The terrorists are becoming more and more brazen," the man said while taking a place behind Barzhakov.

"Hopefully the problems they are causing are enough to drive you to an early grave," Barzhakov said.

Jacques kicked the man's chair few times to annoy him. "I survived you. Besides it's not really my problem now. You forgot that I've retired."

* * *

"So, where is the unknown prototype now? I would imagine it appearing from time to time in numerous hot spots in Earth Sphere," Lunamaria asked as she lifted her daughter away from the broken vase. "Oh, sorry about that vase."

"Don't sweat it. I don't really care for that décor in the first place. Jona's gift, thiking that he could buy me over at that time. Perhaps I'll have the fragments shipped off to his prison, you know, to make it more beautiful."

"Oh."

"As to your question, honestly I don't know. Numerous unconfirmed intelligence sources have cropped up since the incidence detailing about the mobile suit as well as its carrier. For example, one source suggested that the name of the model is 'Daffy'."

Lunamaria laughed. "Come on. I already looked at the website. Even if you discount the fact that the so-called witnesses' photos are doctored and the fact that they're trying to suck the visitors dry by selling those low quality merchandise, there's no way that the UNGARD is involved. Sure, it does sound 'cool' but I went to UNGARD and they're still trying to improve their astroponics' crop yield for heaven's sake."

Following the unification, UNGARD or United Nation Government's Agricultural Research Department had been formed to spearhead agricultural researches in space as well as on Earth. It also had its own colony, GH-One that had been completed the year before. Apparently, the two wars highlighted a very undesirable side effect: population starvation. Both PLANTs and Earth had faced that problem in different stages of the wars: PLANTs had to change their agricultural policy after Junius Seven and the Alliance had logistic nightmares after Junius Seven drop.

Because of that, the colony was built as a neutral research facility as well as the producer of food supply. Since the colony was located on in Earth's orbit, it would be able to rapidly drop needed supplies at areas that required them or in case of PLANTs, sent them via shuttles. Because of its rather unique position, United Nation decided that it was imperative that the facility be defended by a placing a small division. Even then, they mainly used quite formidable but obsolete Murasames donated by ORB.

Cagalli shrugged. "Admittedly, the carrier's main cannons are dubiously named."

"That's the understatement of the year, considering that the ship 'Never mind' is 'equipped with two ONION Blasters'. And you know what irked me the most? Meyrin is a regular visitor to that slimy website."

* * *

"All systems green," Elizabeth announced over her console.

"Wilhelm?" a male voice enquired.

"Er, what, oh yeah, sorry Captain Zala. UNCSS-01 Nemain, ready to launch!"

Nemain, the only ship sanctioned under United Nation Covert Strike Ship program, had its name based on a fairy spirit of the frenzied havoc of war in the Irish mythology. Unlike its indirect predecessor, Cherubim, it didn't have any stealth system similar to Shadow Dancer or Mirage Colloid, and instead mounted a radar scrambler. Because of that, while hidden to radar, it was still detectable by visual as well as infra red sensing.

"Flood the underwater hatch," Athrun commanded.

"Um… flooding," Wilhelm said absently.

Exactly sixty seconds later the enclosure housing the ship was filled with water and the main door opened. Bit by bit the ship began moving out and into the ocean.

"Are you still playing with that website?" Athrun asked Wilhelm as the latter's attention was transfixed to the screen.

"Yeah, I'm going through the sales log. It seems that Miss Hawke had ordered our newest product: 1/250 scale Dendrobium Orchis, High Grade edition" Wilhelm answered, either not knowing or ignoring the real meaning behind his captain's question.

"Dendrobium Orchis?"

"He insisted that this ship be named that when it was built. Of course, no one ever listened to him," Elizabeth remarked. "But since he's the one who's behind the toy line, well, he has the final say in what product we put up for purchase. As much as I hated to admit it, Wilhelm is very capable in that."

"And the source of annoyance for my wife," Athrun said. "Wanting to see what's up with the website, she ordered a souvenir mug. I can't still forget how angry she was when she got a singing mug featuring a purple dinosaur bleating out broken songs over and over."

"It can't be helped," Wilhelm said defensively. "The product was out of stock. Besides, the replacement mug we sent her worth thrice than the one she ordered. I imagine that that at least your daughter would be happy to get it."

"She did, which was why she kept using the mug all the time. You imagine having to listen to the same songs sixteen hours in a day, seven days in a week."

"Sorry about that."

Athrun closed his eyes, wondering the irony of life. There he was, captaining an unrecorded ship on its way to battle and his second-in-command was busy looking at a website. Granted, the website was set up to cover their secret by purposely leaking 'information' that was so outrageous that people wouldn't take them seriously. But Wilhelm seemed a bit _too_ enthusiastic about it.

Also, there's the issue of the group's setup. When approached to join the group, he had half expected it to be ultra-secret elite force that had name like 'GosGru' or 'Splinter Seven' and had underwater base somewhere.

Sure, it had an underwater submarine pen as well as other depots apart from the main base in GHOne, but it was still UNGARD, the agricultural department.

Of course, UNGARD was another front for the United Nation Geo-orbital Armored Response Division; the naming was purposely given to mislead people. Unfortunately, it had done its job rather too well, judging from his wife's hatred over the website.

"Activating signal scrambler, surfacing," Elizabeth announced.

"Fire Orion blasters just as soon as we clear the water," Athrun issued the order. While less stealthy than Cherubim or Girty Lue, the ship nevertheless had a very unique advantage over them as well as other ships. It was capable of escaping the Earth gravity pull unassisted.

"Propulsion mode, atmospheric nitrogen conversion unit at full peak, backup xenon propellant standing by" Wilhelm said before turning back to his website.

The screen showed that the ship had emerged from the water and beginning to move upward.

"Orion blasters, full power," Athrun said.

"Full power," Elizabeth confirmed as the ship rapidly ascend to the heaven.

* * *

Looking through the electronic viewfinder, Mirrilia held still as one of her hands adjusted the focal lens. Once satisfied, she pressed the camera button and an electronic snapping sound signaled her that the shot has been taken. She changed another view and took another picture. While the broadcast and other media companies would certainly cover the event, her photos would probably be sought by editors.

They were in a frenzy to get as many information as they could on the concert that would feature both Meer and Lacus.

While she kept taking pictures, Mir thought about what the concert signified. While critics hailed it as reunion of the two divas, it wasn't as simple as that. Since the end of the war, Lacus pretty much dedicated herself to the establishment of the new government, wanting to make her father's dream of a unified Earthsphere comes true. She didn't simply sing in a concert on a whim; the fact of her being there meant that she probably believed that her father's dream was more or less realized.

That was what she knew, being friend of her. However, as she spied some of the hidden security agents, Mir wondered whether there's something more complex than that. Especially since she noticed something, or rather two people, standing not far away from. She quickly made her way to that person. "Well, well, isn't it a surprise to see the billionaire extraordinaire Terrence Shauzer and his girlfriend here. I expected the two of you be sitting at the VIP corner."

"A true fan always fights for his or her own seat, not just buy their way in."

Sammy slugged him though Mir could see that the force behind the punch didn't hurt him… much. "This idiot is so engrossed with his work that he forgot to buy the tickets. Looks like he's married to his work and I'm just a mistress after all."

"But honey, I love you more than anything…"

"Then why did I found you sleeping with the hyper particlon accelerator last night?"

"Well…"

"See? You're cheating on me even though we're just a couple. I can't imagine what will happen if we ever get beyond that"

Mirrialia sighed, wondering why she had to hear things like that. Raising her camera to take some more pictures, she asked another question to derail the couple's argument. "So, besides making civilian mobile suits, what is your next project?"

As expected, the two of them stopped bickering with Terrence turning toward her. "Hmm? Someone paid you to get the dirt on me?"

"Oh, please. I'm just asking a common question. After all, everyone knows that your company," Mir lowered her camera, "suddenly dropped out of _the competition. _Sure, your prototype Vanguard was destroyed, but so did Phalanx and Thunderstorm. Beside, UN Government did increase the three design bureaus budgets so that they could rebuild their lost prototypes but your company decided to pull out of the completion. You can bet that there are a lot of people who was puzzled by that."

In just few months after the end of the second war, Terrence established his technology company and in just a one-year span had grew it to a respectable size. It was said that it was a real contender in the mobile suit competition that the United Nation held. So, it was unexpected when Terrence withdrew his company's participation.

"How to answer that…" Terrence mused. "I guess we'll continue on doing what we're doing."

"You're not revealing anything with that statement."

"Well, we're working in the agricultural sector and in the near future, we'll continue on doing the same thing," Sammy clarified. "Unofficially though, our egoistic designer here is unsatisfied with the fact that Skyknight managed to survive whereas his inferior Vanguard was trashed."

"Hey! Whose side are you on?" Terrence complained.

Mir wasn't satisfied with the answer and would have asked more if not for the lights went out while the stage came to live. By instinct, her hands moved toward the camera but she stopped. There would be no doubt that all other photographers would concentrate on the very same event, so there's no point in her trying to compete.

After all, which media photographer would be out of their minds not covering the reappearance of the famous diva and the senator of United Nation, Lacus Clyne?

"Ejection cockpit." Terrence said suddenly.

The short statement attracted Mir's attention to him again. "Sorry?"

"Though it's a mature technology, five years being a long time, it's not ready for widespread acceptance since the technology would require a reworking of current mobile suit design practice," Sammy explained.

"As expected from my mistress. You do know my wife well."

Mir had to turn her head away from the impending boyfriend abuse case. She was about to relax and enjoy herself when she was struck by a startling thought. The period mentioned by Terrence, it was during the second war. From what little information she knew the only mobile suit that would fit in with that description would be Fallen.

"Fallen was destroyed in the second war," Terrence, who somehow moved next to her, said calmly.

* * *

"I'm surprised that you accepted my invitation," a woman with smoky black hair said to her companion as they walked toward the stage.

"You're making it sounds as if I didn't want to accept your invitations," the companion replied back, pretending to be put off with the statement.

"No, Lady Lacus, I didn't mean that."

"I know… I'm just teasing you, Meer. And I thought that we're already beyond 'Lady Lacus that' and 'Lady Lacus this'"

"But Lady…"

"Meer…"

"Lad… Lacus."

"Good. I consider you as a good friend, and I hope you feel the same."

Meer felt her eyes moistened, touched at that admission. She smiled and offered a hand which Lacus took. Hand in hand, the duo walked up to the stage. Their arrival was greeted by thunderous applause as well eye-blinding camera flashes.

"It's the first time that we're singing together," Meer whispered.

"Yes, but I know that it'll the best from both of us."

It had been a while since Lacus had sung, so she felt a little bit of trepidation. She wondered why she had returned to the stage even though if someone had asked her few years prior, she would have answered that it would be the last place that she would go to.

"GOOD EVENING, EVERYBODY!" Meer greeted everyone. "ARE YOU READY FOR A GREAT TIME?"

The crowd cheered even wilder.

"AND I HAVE A SPECIAL TREAT FOR EVERYONE TONIGHT."

Without being prompted, everyone shouted Lacus' name. They then alternate between chanting Meer and Lacus.

Lacus finally understood why she wanted to sing to everyone once more. It's not because of their calling out for her name, far be it for profit.

Meer excitedly raised her microphone while gesturing to Lacus. "AND OUR LOVELY PINK PRINCESS WOULD START THE NIGHT WITH HER SONG. WHAT DO YOU SAY TO THAT?"

"YEAH!" everyone shouted.

Lacus was surprised by Meer's sudden announcement but she quickly schooled her feature and smiled as the music started. The reason why she wanted to sing was simple.

She wanted her singing to bring joy and happiness to everyone

* * *

"Just as the Intel indicated, The Destined targeted the concert in Januarius One," Athrun said as the radar showed mobile suits moving toward the colony. "Ships?"

"Just two," Malik Yardsbird, sitting at Nemain's radar cum CIC console answered. A former radar operator for Minerva, he was among few crew members who hadn't served onboard Cherubim in the second war.

"I just hope this mission is just hit and run as usual, because Daffy is out of commission," Elizabeth remarked. "It's Guardian and us this time."

"Daffy?" Athrun asked, his mind instantly recalling the cartoon that his daughter liked to watch involving an infamous duck who always being outsmarted by a wily rabbit with nasal voice that always called everybody else 'Doc'. The name would not really instill fear in its opponents should they know.

"Ah… sorry. Forgot that you just joined. "Daffy is just our nickname for Dämmerungsfee."

"Dusk Fairy?" Athrun narrowed his eyebrows. "Wait… Is this the same one involved in the attack on the testing base?" He remembered an unmarked mobile suit attacking his ship during Rimane Test.

"Yeah," Wilhelm answered. "We knew that you're onboard that ship at that time."

The newly commissioned captain of Nemain massaged his temple. It looked like he would have to read a lot of past mission logs to even comprehend what kind of missions it carried out. He briefly wondered whether it was also involved in the accident at the ammunition dump in Kenya two months before.

"We were ordered to cripple your ship," Elizabeth answered. "But if I'm not wrong, the order didn't prevent us from shooting it down too."

Somehow Athrun wouldn't be too surprised if the ammunition dump was destroyed by Nemain. Suddenly reading the mission logs seemed scary. He decided to change the subject. "Why Dämmerungsfee is out of commission?

"Due to its rather unique control requirements, we have troubles replacing the pilot."

"What happened to the current one?"

The whole bridge was quiet.

"Maybe the best words to describe it are… 'you reap what you sow?'" Wilhelm suggested with a twinge of a smile.

"I don't think the commander will appreciate you making that comment," Malik remarked. "Or do you have death wish on your list?"

"Makes me wonder too how come idiots don't die easily," Elizabeth added.

Athrun wondered how Cherubim weathered through the previous war with such an unruly crew. Perhaps he would better suck it up and rue signing the agreement to join UNGARD later. "Launch Guardian."

"Guardian, going through the launch sequence," Malik announced his screen showed that the mobile suit's parts. Going though external diagnostic. Pilot's 360X2 DBF interface, 'Vue Divine', 'Tereshkova' and 'Plume de Lune' working at fully acceptable range. Zwiling Lanze II, AURORA III, unit one to four at optimal condition. Guardian NOVA is a go."

"Roger. Guardian NOVA, launching," a male voice answered.

A second later, a white and blue mobile suit sped away from the ship and moved in the direction of Januarius One at a very high speed.

"Captain, we should ask the commander to use the Assault mode or at the very least the very least we should reconfigure Nemain to Bombardier mode," Wilhelm asked a bit excitedly."

Athrun look around the ship for help to answer the question.

"Looking at the situation, I think you better do what the previous captains did," Elizabeth remarked without turning away from her station.

"And that is?"

"Ignore the idiot."

* * *

The two Drake-class ships moved steadily toward their target: Januarius One.

The leader of the operation smiled. Soon, they would be in range to launch the nuclear missiles they had managed to acquire. Then, Januarius One would be no more and the flame will erupt; the flame of despair that will wash away all illusions and deceits the weak UNITY government perpetrated and will mark the path in which The Destineds would march. And march they would, until they took their rightful place which was to steer humanity's future toward the correct path as the real Coordinators, not the weak minded cowards who had collaborated with Naturals.

Even as they protested and protested, the government had slowly increased migration of Coordinators to Earth and vice versa. Already, the vile propaganda machinery of that very same government had shown how Coordinators and Naturals had worked together rebuilding Earth and PLANTs. Slowly, but surely, PLANTs were being infested by the genetically inferiors.

That was why, as the keepers of Gilbert's will, the upholders of Destiny Plan that emphasized genetic superiority, they would attack Januarius One masquerading as Blue Cosmos terrorists. Once they killed everyone, including the damned pink princess who led the betrayal, it would be easy to goad the rest of populous into thinking that the only way to peace was to enslave the Naturals.

"Captain, we have a hostile on radar," the ship's radar operator reported.

The leader felt his blood curdled. "Is it the silent killer?"

"No. The energy reading is different."

He smiled. "Then launch all of our mobile suits."

The sortie order was issued and soon, twenty mobile suits were ready to engage the lone target

"We have a communiqué through open channel," the CIC operator announced.

"Put it on screen."

A very well known face appeared, causing the captain to raise his eyebrows. "Well, well, well, if it isn't the famous ace, Kira Yamato. It's a surprise to see you here. I thought that we have killed you. But it's okay, we'll correct that."

Kira's face was neutral "UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF THE UNITED NATION GOVERNMENT, YOU ARE HEREBY ORDERED TO SURRENDER PEACEFULLY. YOU WILL CEASE ALL MOVEMENT OF MOBILE SUITS AND SHIPS. AS COVERED BY THE NEW DELHI CONVENTION, THIS WARNING WILL ONLY BE GIVEN ONCE."

The captain laughed. "Do you think I fear your single mobile suit? You're barking up the wrong tree, boy."

In his cockpit, Kira only looked around him as all the mobile suits pointed their weapons at him. He shook his head. "You refuse to stand down?" he asked.

"Foolish words for someone who was about to die," the leader replied.

He closed his eyes and sighed. "Then regrettably, I have no choice but to have all of you disappear forever.

* * *

Lacus lowered her head as the song came to a finish.

It took Meer a few seconds to finally compose herself. Looking at everyone else, she could tell that they were in awe themselves. Moving to the other woman, she whispered, "That was beautiful,"

Lacus slowly raised her head to look at ger, revealing that her eyes brimmed with tears. "Thank you," she whispered back.

Caught by surprise by what she saw, Meer did the only thing she knew. She held Lacus in her arms, pretending as if congratulating her. "Forget them. I'll hold you as long as you want."

Lacus nodded and let her tears fell freely a few more seconds. Finally catching hold of herself, she wiped off the tears away and smiled. "I'm fine now. It's just that I've finally sang it."

"What was it?"

"A good bye song."

Both of them turned and bowed toward the audience who broke into thunderous applause.

Amidst the loud din, Meer managed "I'm really envy you. Words couldn't describe how it beautiful it was. May I know the song's name?"

A smile, albeit a softer one, was still on Lacus' lips. "To be in eternal madness…"

"To be in eternal madness?"

"Three years ago, someone told me that love is madness. It was there and then that I realized that I had lost to her."

* * *

"All targets have been neutralized," Kira reported as the last of his Zwiling Lanze pods landed on his mobile suit.

There was some regret on Athrun's face. "I wish that it hadn't come to this."

"The price of peace is eternal vigilance, I suppose."

"I've been thinking, Kira, have you considered telling Cagalli about you being alive?"

"Well…" Kira understood very well about what Athrun was trying to tell him. It was just that it wasn't really easy to just suddenly waltz into her home one day and apologize for being absent for his own funeral. Cagalli would probably break his hand or something. Even Athrun's reaction upon learning that he was still alive was nothing short of explosive. The man was still a bit protective toward his sister.

"Wilhelm suggested that you wear something ugly and come to her house during Christmas."

"Ghost of the past? I don't think so."

"So, when?" Athrun pressed.

Kira let out a tired breath. "I'll tell her on our birthday."

"_Everything."_

"Yes, I'll bring them along."

Athrun smiled. "Good. I don't want to hear, 'If only Kira was here' or 'I know Kira would like that', knowing very well that the same person was one the colony, planting daisies."

"Wheat, Athrun. I get the picture and will be there in time for her birthday next month. But please leave hints to her so that it would be less," Kira struggled for the word, "painful."

"Deal. Okay, the cleaners will take care of the scene. It's time to go home."

_Home. _It was where his heart was all the time and he would fight in order to protect it. A soft smile appeared. He'll probably fight again and again but for the time being, he would return home to his wife and their unborn son.

"This is Kira Allster, message received loud and clear. Returning to the ship."

* * *

1

* * *

**Author's note (13****th**** July 13, 2008)**

1. Sorry for not answering to the previous reviews as doing so will reveal spoil the story a bit. Now that the story is over, I'll be more than happy to do so. Just as you will notice, I updated two chapters in one go, because well…

2. While I am happy to answer some of the questions, before someone ask me what really happened to the two, please reread the chapter above. The clues are there, though not really detailed, they are more than enough. You also may interested to know that while certain Asian communities that practice the bride marrying into the groom's family and therefore adopting the husband's family name, Japanese are also less strict (depending on situation) in that sense as the groom _may_ marry into the bride's family.

3. If you're wondering why Guardian isn't… thrice as strong as Strike Freedom, please consider this : in military dictum, firepower isn't the only consideration and while it may play a very important decision, sometimes other factors will override it. That's why we have jet fighters that have _significantly _lower firepower than bombers. If the military planners are so transfixed with firepower, all forces would have fielded strategic bombers, preferably loaded with nuclear weapons. The same argument can be used to explain F22 being chosen over F23 which is more stealthy. (F22 is more maneuverable). To quote someone, "Iya, pilotto desho." or It's the pilot (rather than the machine).

4. Nope. Not going to write a sequel. Kira and Fllay had reached their zenith and it's always better to stop when at the peak. I would prefer to write something less technical than Fallen Angel that don't require me to spend as much time reading through various scientific articles as writing the actual story. Yes, I do take some liberty with science, but not that much. Take my interpretation of Coordinators requiring more food than Naturals. Yes, I use same natural law why we require more food than, say, a snail (sure, that's a gross exaggeration but you get the point.) Maybe I'll write a Shinn x Cagalli fic next.


	65. Wilted flower after thunderstorm

**Author's note (10 February 2010**)

1. This chapter, and the upcoming one is an alternate ending to Fallen Angel based on events in Soaring Above. Since SA is more focussed on Shinn Asuka's side of story, I've decided to put the ending here, at least for the moment. Even without reading SA, the ending is a bit self-explanationary but then again for those who haven't read SA and want to, be my guess.

2. There will be another chapter after this to tie things up.

* * *

1

* * *

More than two years had passed but yet it felt to Sergeant James Bowler that it was yesterday that the second war had ended.

"Incoming GOUF flight!"

He muttered some expletives. One had to wonder how much resource the pro-Gilbert faction had to be fielding such a number of war machineries. "Snipe the flight leader!"

A minute later, the leader of the hostile group had been shot. Multiple shots later, the flight was destroyed.

"That show them flyboys not to mess with us!" he growled, enjoying the small victory even though they would lose the battle.

They were GUNTRUP soldiers, controlling smaller and more specialized version of normal mobile suits. They were at the space, at the specific sector for a very specific purpose which was to destroy the enemy to threatened Earthsphere's security and that had succeeded in their mission. But getting out of the insane warzone was something else altogether. The gruff sergeant was a seasoned veteran that fought in the previous two wars and was the most battle hardened veteran in the platoons. He even had a brief stint as the then outdated Dagger pilot in the second war. But even he had to admit to himself that he was in a pickle. The chance of what remained of his platoon to survive was indeed, bleak.

"Keep in formation!" he shouted over the communication line. "Those without any team just form up with the nearest one!"

A shot from the sniper in his fire team managed to hit its mark, a GOUF that was harassing another team.

"Where's the fucking Commander Elsmann, Sergeant? The flyboy is supposed to bail us out!" a fire team leader asked.

James ignored the destroyed GOUF wreckage moving past his unit. "He had his own hands full."

"What? So we have to make our way out? Woo wee, that's really FUN, really FUN!"

"Shut up! If even we started calling us as Fucked Up Noobs, do you think the flyboys will ever stop doing so?"

The fire team leader "I don't care about my good name! All I care about is that twenty plus hostiles in the radar bearing on us and there's nothing we can do to keep ourselves from…" the man was quite all of a sudden. "What the hell? Half of them disappeared just like that? What kind of weirdness is this? Some kind of Phantom Dutchman in space?"

James watched as a white mobile suit flew pass them. "No, it's our Guardian. Guardian angel," he said as the said mobile suit continued to engage the hostile units. "Alright everyone, the cavalry's here. Time to make ourselves scarce." He knew that with the arrival of Guardian to the coordinate, the enemy would concentrate all efforts into taking it down. The last time he saw such a thing happened when The Alliance's Daggers tried to take down Freedom in the first war; until then he couldn't believe how a single mobile suit could take down close to fifty other mobile suits just like that.

Since the newcomer came to aid them, they could finally leave. In fact, they must leave so that the mobile suit wouldn't have to protect them while fighting off the enemy simultaneously. James activated his GUNTRUP's boosters at full power. "No need to hinder our angel's fight. The last one to the carrier would buy everyone's drink for a week!"

"Damn you, sergeant!" another soldier said. "You cheated."

"There's no such thing as cheating in war, greenhorn," James spat back.

* * *

Athrun let out a breath of relief at the sight of a big ship slowly disintegrating. Even though the battle had yet to end, he could safely say that the war had been won. Almost one year had passed since the start of the shadow war between pro-Gilbert's faction, The Destineds and the new United Nations Integration Treaty government, with the former wanting to impose its own brand of peace as opposed to the government's practice of engaging all nations in talks and diplomacy.

When The Destineds began its random terrorizing, Athrun was very worried that the attacks would be perceived by nations on Earth as being perpetrated by ZAFT, just like how the crash of Junius Seven led to the declaration of the previous war.

He would later find out that UNITY's Secret Agency I9 had been instrumental in reducing the political fallout of such attack. Even as The Destined struck against other nations, I9, with the help of ZAFT high command, would stage mock attacks against ZAFT outposts and then leak the news to the information network. As a result, the public's opinion swung from believing that ZAFT was responsible for the attack to being a victim as well, especially when ZAFT and Alliance leaders would appear together to condemn the terrorist attack. Also, after it found out that The Destineds was after pro-integration leaders, it also orchestrated many botched assassination attempts on the said leaders. That way, the leaders' influence grew and became unsavory targets as killing them would make them martyrs.

At that time, what he knew was that in the end, The Destineds abandoned its covert strategy and instead engage in a full military built up. Thanks to the information provided by the informant that went by the name of Sleipneir, UNITY had an advantage over its foe.

"Captain, we received a communiqué from Mitushide announcing its presence in the nearby sector."

Athrun's eyes widened. Mitsuhide was ORB's flagship and was stationed at ORB-controlled Lagrange Point; it wouldn't be at the far side of the moon without a very good reason. "Any reason for its presence?"

"It wants to recover something just inside of the green zone." The CIC operator read some information that popped up with the notification. " It also had authorization from UNITY's high command for a 'search and rescue' mission for an unspecified object."

"As long as it doesn't interfere I'm okay with it."

"Captain, Nemain is sending a recovery team in toward the same sector Mitsuhide is going."

Athrun almost stood up. "What?" Even though Nemain was a UNITY's battleship, it was operated by I9, UNITY's intelligence agency and wasn't bound by UNITY military chain of command. He calmed himself. "It's not that we can do anything so unless it fights with Mitsuhide." But he had to wonder why Nemain sent out a recovery team.

* * *

"That would not be necessary," a voice announced calmly to Nemain.

From his first day in ORB military, his 'enlistment' into Cherubim's rag tag army and until he was commissioned to command Nemain, Enishi was known for being a stickler for rules and regulation. But besides that he was also known as being cool even under the most stressful situation. However, he had trouble keeping calm after hearing Kira's eerily serene voice.

"Call back the recovery team. I will get the Dammerungsfee myself."

Enishi noted that his hands were grasping at the arm rests. "Very well."

"Thank you."

After Kira signed off, the experienced captain shook his head as the oppressive feeling evaporated. He looked around the bridge to see that everyone else seemed unaffected by Kira's voice. He let a wry smile slip into his lips. Being trained in the ancient art of Kendo, Enishi had honed his battle senses enough to detect a dangerous foe's presence. That was why he felt nervous upon hearing Kira's words; despite the calm voice, there was some dangerous edge hidden in those words of his. He could only pity for anyone who got in the man's way.

* * *

Kira looked at the two damaged mobile suits floating lifelessly in front of him. He couldn't really explain it but even before the computer system announced to him, he already knew which one she was piloting. No. That wasn't really correct since when he recovered his sealed memory, he could feel her presence.

"Fllay…"

When he saw her crashing Fallen at SALVATION two years before, he felt as if a big chunk of his soul had been torn off. It was then he realized that he was lying to himself. Even though he tried very hard to convince himself that he was in love with Lacus, in truth his heart had been ensnared by someone else, someone else that he was supposed to dislike for using him for her own design. It was rather strange how twisted their relationship was. In the first war, he had refused to listen to her and then the shuttle she was on was destroyed, presumably killing her. She reappeared in the second war as a pilot of a rogue Alliance task force. After he had somehow forced himself on her, she pleaded with him to let her stay by his side but he refused, telling her that her feelings weren't real.

Thinking back, what he did was worse.

After the second war had ended, he chased after her shadow which was how he ended up joining the task force he was currently serving. Even though United Nation Integration Treaty was set up to promote cooperation between nations of Earthsphere, it also served a peacekeeping role, one that requires both normal military might and covert subversive capability. Even though joining the task force allowed him access to numerous information sources, as promised to him when he joined, Kira couldn't find her.

It was as if he was doomed to keep searching forever as part of his penance.

When he found out that the mobile suit he was assigned to had ELEANA, an artificial intelligence system fashioned after her brain matrix, he felt as if he had a shred of hope of finding her as it told him that it was interconnected with her.

Kira would have the best opportunity to locate the woman he yearned for if not for the fact that Earthsphere was about to plunge into another war at that time and the system activated just before he was about to be killed.

The Destineds, the group to was trying to impose Gilbert's Destiny Plan on everyone, had somehow created a copy of himself. At first, the copy piloted a reconfigurable mobile suit nicknamed 'Grey moth' due to its color and quad wings configuration. Making his appearance by killing one of the ELEANA units, the copy quickly declared his intention of wanting to destroy all of ELEANA and then extract revenge on the original person.

Throughout the conflict the impersonator remained a thorn in Kira's side, even managing to steal Dammerungsfee, a mobile suit Terrence fashioned after Fallen. Even though it wasn't what the designer had in mind, Kira had finished the gunmetal black mobile suit for use by her. Yet, the copy stole the mobile suit and piloted it as if it was built for him.

The fact that the copy mastered the mobile suit's uniview-navigation inherited from Fallen should have raised a red flag to Kira but he was blinded by his hatred to find out that the copy was actually the girl he was searching for. The hatred also caused him to lose the fight with her, causing ELEANA to seal his memory and sacrificed itself to prevent him from making a mistake.

Kira looked at the other mobile suit. The mobile suit obviously belonged to ORB and he had a feeling he knew who was the pilot.

It was an irony that he himself had been blinded by his desire to find her that he failed to notice that she was right in front of his very eyes all the time. Instead, Shinn Asuka who wasn't supposed to be involved in the whole matter managed to find out that she was the one masquerading as his copy.

It was jealousy that was what he felt at the other man, Kira realized.

The computer beeped, pushing him out of his internal reverie. A squad of hostile mobile suits was coming toward the sector. Quickly he sent a brief advisory to Mitsuhide to remain away from the sector until it was safe to do so.

A beam shot that he quickly and easily blocked was only the announcement the squad had made.

"To UNITY pilot, Kira Yamato piloting Guardian, this is a warning for you to retreat rather than facing the full force of our might," a voice eerily similar to him announced.

"Why would you want me to do so? The war has already ended and The Destineds had lost."

"Perhaps but the battle hadn't ended. We're here to kill the traitor so I don't think you would be so incline to interfere in our private matter. In fact we will be generous and let you bring away the ORB mobile suit just like that."

"Traitor… You mean the black mobile suit?"

"The war would have turned out differently if not for what the bastard did."

"I understand now…" Kira said quietly.

"Good. Now, run along."

"I nearly killed her, no, I wanted to kill her so much…"

Kira screamed as his vision was clouded by a red haze.

* * *

Terrence caught hold of the unconscious Kira with one hand while the other stored away the tranquilizer gun used to sedate the man. "Take him away to the medic bay and make sure to strap him securely and tightly."

"Why?" Sammy asked.

"This way, he wouldn't be able to move and we don't have to restrain him. If he can kick around those clones of him just like toys just now, I don't want to find out firsthand the righteous fury of Kira Yamato." The man moved quickly floated toward the landing spot. "Medic team!" he could out as technicians raced to secure the towed mobile suit. I9 had finally recovered its stolen mobile suit, Dammerungsfee that had been stolen a few months prior. "Any activities?" he asked a technician.

"Basic life support."

"Looks like the bastard Asuka managed to disable it so I have to say that I'm impressed," Terrence said as he took a position near the cockpit where two people were already prying open the hatch while another one was descrambling the security protocol and safety measures.

"We got access."

"Open it," Terrence said as he pulled the safety lever on his firearm and aimed the gun toward the hatch.

Slowly, the hatch was opened, revealing the spherical innards of the cockpit and the impact dampening system installed inside it. In the middle of it was a pilot wearing a flight suit and a totally opaque helmet. The pilot was still alive, evident from the breathing sound made.

"Get the pilot out," he told the person next to him. "Do not, I repeat, do not remove the helmet no matter what. Just plug the basic life support to the ports on the flight suit. After watching the medical team extract the pilot out, he went inside the mobile suit's cockpit to twiddle around. "Just as I expected," he announced, "the system had been twiddled with."

"What did The Destineds do?"

"Well, first they have this," Terrence touched a small box, "Imaging system that produces the so-called 'Kira' image. I think they're planning to have a psychological warfare with this, you know, imagine all the aces in Earthsphere siding with it… people would certainly question UNITY's integrity."

"So Fllay is being controlled by it."

Terrence didn't answer for quite some time. "Judging from the system, she had full control of her thoughts and the imaging is only for the appearance's sake. It is just as I suspected."

"I didn't get it. Why didn't she contact us if she's really not under the unit's control?"

"Because of this," the man said as he held a small device.

"Transmitter?"

"Fail safe device in the event that she broke through the control. But I wonder if this is the real reason at all."

* * *

Kira struggled against the binding that confined him to a chair.

"Calm down." Terrence said while taking a seat himself across him.

"What do you mean calm down? I want to see her!"

"No you're not. Not until you look at the thing in my hand," the man said while holding something.

"Presidential Order?" Kira asked, surprised by what he saw.

"Yes. This order had been handed to me by Clyne herself. By the way, are you feeling comfy?"

"Why am I'm being tied?" the Guardian pilot said while trying once more to struggle out of his bonds but to no avail.

Terrence's expression changed into one of seriousness. "This is because the PO I'm holding empowers the holder, which is me, to carry out an execution regardless of the New Delhi Protocol."

Kira's eyes widened. "You're going to kill me," he commented flatly.

"What the hell? You think I hate your guts that much? Sigh. Then again, maybe it's better for your name to be on this order rather than hers."

"Hers… Are you…"

Terrence read the order. "Fllay Allster, daughter of Atlantic Federation Vice Foreign Minister Geor_ge ____Allster. To be executed for crimes against humanity due to her involvement in terrorist attacks on various UNITY and its member nations military installations. _

_"__That's a lie."_

_"__You know it is the truth. By the way, d_o you know someone by the name of Murdoch, a technician from Atlantic that served in Archangel?"

"Yes, but I don't see…"

"Fllay killed him," Terrence interjected.

"No."

"Yes. And that's the reason why Asuka was here instead of being in ORB."

"You're lying," Kira denied

"What would you do if it's not a lie, huh? Would you keep quiet and let me carry out the order?" Terrence scoffed. "if you really want, I can get her here and then you can ask her personally. Would that convince you?"

"Even then, Lacus would never issue such order," Kira said, trying to find another opening in the debate.

"She asked me to tell you that if you want to hate her, it's okay."

Kira stared at Terrence for a very long time. "Why?" he asked simply.

The other man looked away. "It is because Fllay that existed in your mind, a lively fifteen year old girl who managed to garner your attention, was already dead in the first war. The Fllay that you met in the second war was just a faded shadow of that person."

"I don't understand."

"What is the price you're willing to pay to ensure the happiness of the person you love?"

The question had caused him to ponder for a moment. Would it be too much to say that he's willing to do everything? At first, he wanted to say that but then he realized that there was something else to the question.

"Everything?" Terrence voiced out his silent thought. "You're willing to go to war for that?"

"Yes," Kira said, resolutely.

"But how about causing a war?"

The bound man couldn't answer that question.

Terrence gave a humorless smile. "That's what she did."

"What?"

"The shadow war that had just concluded between us and The Destineds was caused by her."

"No, that can't be. She must have been brainwashed."

"Actually, records showed that she had broken free her mental conditioning as early as when she destroyed the ELEANA unit in the first encounter. Did you remember what your impersonator said at that time?"

Kira recalled that the other him talked about causing a civil war to break out in a country so that peace could finally reign. "But that intrusion was caused by The Destined."

The other man clucked his tongue in annoyance. "That's why you failed to understand what happened. We also took that into account but it still doesn't justify why she didn't rejoin us instead of being in The Destineds."

"Maybe she couldn't."

"Actually, it is more of that she wouldn't. You wouldn't know the full details but remember Sleipner, the best source we had on The Destineds?"

"Yes?"

"It was her."

"Then what she's doing is to the benefit of UNITY!"

"Not really. She was a double-agent and provided the other faction information on UNITY, including on our top secret base. That's how they managed to steal Dammerungsfee." Terrence's face scrunched a bit. "That's not really correct. Fllay provided the info on the base to them but then killed the pilot who was supposed to steal the prototype during the assault so that she could take the mobile suit for herself. At that time I was perplexed at how the pilot managed to master's Dammerungsfee's control but if we take into account that control is inherited from Fallen then it made sense."

"That's impossible. How could she become a double agent when she doesn't know what happened at our base."

"Oh, she knows a bit about us, especially since ELEANA was connected to her."

Kira's couldn't believe what was being said. "You mean…"

"We may never know the true extent of its capabilities but we do know that system isn't a simple combat AI but rather a quantum wave communication network. The dreams that you talked about? I'm not surprised if she experienced it as well. I'm not sure why she destroyed it in the end but maybe it's due to the fact that the system wouldn't cooperate with her."

The Ultimate Coordinator put a hand on his face. The explanation was too much to take. "Why then? If what you said is true then why is she doing this…"

"The Destineds was prepared for a long covert guerilla war while UNITY was taking a very soft stance against its threat. The conflict would drag for a long time without any real solution. That's why she purposely provoked both sides into fighting each other so that the conflict would end faster. Providing information to UNITY wasn't enough so that's why she's providing information to The Destineds, information that will hurt not only us but also all other nations so that we will unite and then retaliate. Earthsphere would focus all of its hate to The Destineds and its avatar, the gunmetal black mobile suit named Dammerungsfee. Then, The Destineds would be defeated and its champion would be destroyed by UNITY's own. The source of hate gone, the world, would unite and only then the real healing process would begin. I may be wrong but she never wanted to kill you."

"But Fllay… Fllay wanted me… she wanted me to…" Kira's fists tightened so hard that his nails cut into the flesh, drawing blood. "Everything that she did, it was for the sake of destroying The Destineds from the inside even it meant that she would die as well… and…"

"Yes. She wanted you to be the one to kill her. I don't know why but Asuka managed to figure out everything and had actually fought her to prevent her from meeting you at the battlefield. That's why, Kira. That's why I said that Fllay Allster that you knew is actually dead. The one lying comatose right now is just a soiled soul corrupted by the war. I didn't notice it then but now, I think pulling out a gun and shooting her is an act of mercy to end her suffering."

* * *

She opened her eyes very slowly, letting them get used to the light. However, even before the world came into focus, she already knew that _he _was there, nearby. "How lone have I've been out?" she whispered, her parched throat made her voice sounded like a whisper of dried leaves.

"You were in a coma for two and a half months." Kira said before giving her some water to drink and hydrate her throat. "Right now you're in the UNGARD's colony city."

"I see." Fllay put a hand on her face and thought about her current situation. Her plan went smoothly and would have ended perfectly if not for Shinn Asuka's meddling. Because of his interception, she was capture alive and was currently in the same room with Kira. She hated her situation. Every single fiber of her being was screaming for her to reach out and touch Kira's hand nearby, seeking the warmth that once was hers before she threw it away. But it wasn't happen, because she no longer had strength and willpower to fight it. "So, will I be court-martialed or be tried in a normal court or somewhere else?" she asked calmly.

"You will find out your fate soon enough."

"Oh." She really enjoyed how denying herself of his touch was causing pain to her being. It was the pain that kept her going when she became a special mobile suit operation team member after the second war; it was also the same pain that The Destineds took, magnified hundredfold and inflict on her continuously for a week to break her. Fllay shivered a bit as a phantom Kira voice told him that she didn't deserve any happiness for corrupting his innocence and using him as her tool.

"I was told that you were involve in an attack on ORB's carrier group?"

Fllay's mind was jolted into action upon hearing that question. Without her knowledge, Hilbert had sent a task force to attack the carrier group impersonating as Confederation military in order to trick ORB into declaring war against the nation and subsequently dragging ZAFT into the mess as well. When she found out about it, she quickly launched to the area and destroyed the task force. It seemed that a strike team had purposely left few mortally wounded survivors carrying false information that would be used to frame Confederation. One of them was Murdoch. She managed to prevent him and anyone else from transmitting the information to ORB and then destroyed the ship. "Yes. And you remember Murdoch, the chief engineer on Archangel? Well, he was onboard the ship when I destroyed it. A bit noisy when he pleaded to me not to continued with the attack."

She had cried when the old man succumbed to his injury right in front of her very eyes and she was unable to do anything about it. However at the moment, she would have spit on his corpse as long as it achieved the effect that she required.

Kira didn't say anything.

After getting tired of the response that never came, Fllay concluded that Kira was disgusted with her revelation which was something that she wanted. She had planned for him to kill her at the end of the battle but the current setting would also work. UNITY would prosecute a dangerous terrorist for her crime against humanity. All she needed to do was to continue portraying herself negatively which was something easy to do since she wasn't a good person in the first place.

Since she was working directly under Hilbert's command and thus had access to some private information, maybe she could claim that she was his second-in-command instead of a mindless drone until the attack on ELEANA unit caused her to regain her freedom. That way it would be credible to say that it was her that commanded some of the attacks.

"Fllay," Kira said suddenly. "Do you love me?"

The redhead laughed mockingly. "What a stupid question."

"Do you?"

"Let me tell you something, I don't l…"

To her horror, her words wouldn't come out. Quickly she changed her sentence.

"I hate y…"

Once again the word died in her throat. '_Wha… what happened? I couldn't say it.'_

She tried again but this time she couldn't even begin to speak.

"Iktomi," Kira said, eliciting a gasp from Fllay. "A trickster spider spirit mentioned in the Lakota mythology in Northern America that would plot an intricate malicious plan only to have it backfired on him. It took some time for Lacus to unseal the archive but she had provided me with the mission's detail. Surprisingly, UNGARD also have a similar plan that's due to be carried out in a year's time code-named Canaris where a UNGARD mobile suit pilot will be a triple agent and do something similar but less extreme. The agency recognized the fact that uniting all nations would take a lot of time and risky given the growing influence of The Destineds."

Things didn't look well, Fllay thought to herself. At the current rate, her being guilty would be brought into question.

"You're going to say that you're not carrying out Iktomi but because you hate humanity, aren't you?" Kira said before she could. "But if you are going to say that, it would be more convincing if you didn't destroy The Destined's other base.

He had seen through everything, she reluctantly accepted. "Then you know that I'm not supposed to be here." _'I'm supposed to die.'_

"If you really want to die, it's fine. I wouldn't stop you. I'll be with you all the way."

The comment was supposed to calm her conscience but she felt that something was wrong. Even if he was supposed to hate her, his voice seemed condescending.

"We already know about the MOIRAE module The Destineds implanted in your brain."

"But…"

"Yes. We already know that the longest you can last without it is two weeks. I imagine that The Destineds didn't want you to betray it and lives."

She then remembered him telling her that she was unconscious for two and a half months.

"I had it transferred to me," Kira said while tapping his forehead.

The statement hit her face like slap of concrete block.

Kira laughed nervously. "Well, that's a bit cruel but since you claimed that you're a dangerous terrorist I guess this is a method to restraint you, in case you're thinking of breaking out."

"Idiot," she whispered.

"Sorry?"

"YOU'RE AN IDIOT!" she shouted. "Did you realize what had you done? MOIRAE is a two way system... and," she was silenced when Kira put a finger on her lips and smiled.

"I am an idiot. And I do know that I can't survive you again. So if you want to die, it's fine by me, as long as I can accompany you."

"This is not supposed to happen. I'm not supposed to be alive. I've wronged you."

Kira almost tore his gaze away as he couldn't stand the look on her face but in the end, he persevered. Terrence had explained that the conditioning by The Destineds was intended to destroy herself identity and self worth to make her submit. He could still see some traces of her original soul in her eyes and vowed to himself that he would heal her. "Yes, you're right. You have committed grievous offences against me. You have used and manipulated me to become a killer even though all I wanted to do was to protect those dear to me."

"You are right," Fllay said, simply admitting it but didn't apologize as she didn't deserve any forgiveness.

"You owe me."

"Yes."

"Even though you claimed that you regret what you did, yet you tried to manipulate me again into killing you; once more you're forcing me to do something that I don't want."

She sat up in response. "No. I'm not trying to manipulate you…"

"I understand." Kira said while closing his eyes and let out a disappointed breath. "You're trying to manipulate me because you want to see me suffer again. I deserved it after all, since I've broken my promise to protect your father."

"NO!" she insisted. "You… you're not at fault."

"But what you were doing…"

"I want you to punish me for what I did and then move on…" she said desperately, her hands clenching.

"You didn't even ask me what I wanted as retribution for what you did."

She hung her head. "I'm sorry. I will accept whatever you want."

Fllay felt herself being pulled into his arms.

"You have been very evil to break my heart," Kira whispered. "That is why, as your penance, you're to stay with me and protect it,"

His warmth engulfed her but at the same time the psychic pain was unbearable. The more she remained in his embrace, the more she wanted him for herself. "It hurts. Being held by you is very painful."

Kira mentally winced at her words but didn't relinquish his hold even when he felt tears seeping through his cloth and felt her shuddering. He wasn't sure how long it would take to heal her but it didn't matter. When she tentatively put her arms around him, he knew that he had a chance at happiness.

"But not to be held by you is painful as well," she sobbed.

He gently pulled her away so he could kiss her forehead. Kira then stared at her tear-stricken face. "Then, stay with me," he said before embracing her again.

"Kira…" The two of them remained in the embrace for quite some time. She whispered, "If it's not too much, may I stay in your arms a little longer? I understand if you…"

"Shh…" he said while pulling the two of them to the bed. As she lay on his chest, Kira closed his eyes and felt her heartbeats pulsing with life. It was then he realized that like her, his soul had been soiled by the wars as well. It would have been soiled regardless of whether Fllay was there or not in the first place. Despite the possibilities, he had accepted the truth that only she could truly heal him, not Lacus, not anyone else; he would heal her as well. "Fllay, I wish I hadn't lied to you and myself that day."

Fllay didn't say anything but he could feel that she was paying attention to what he was saying.

"I love you, Fllay. Really really love you."


	66. The witch and the young man

"_Once upon a time, there was a young man named Sunny who wanted to become the most powerful person in the world because then he can make sure everyone is living peacefully. So, he went to a hut where a witch lived and asked for her help."_

"_The witch agreed to make him powerful, but one condition. Sunny must guard her most important treasure while she went out to do some errands. He agreed and the witch went away. Sunny thought the job would be easy but then a giant ogre came. Sunny fought the ogre and defeated it but the powerful ogre smashed the treasure before he ran away."_

"_When the witch came back, she was very angry and wanted to cook Sunny inside a big black pot and then eat him for dinner. But Sunny begged her not to eat him and she agreed, on one condition. Sunny must seek out a black dragon and kill it. If he succeeded, not only the witch would not eat him but also he would become the most powerful person in the world."_

"_So the poor Sunny set on his journey to search for the black dragoon. After walking for quite some time, he became thirsty. Fortunately, he came to a river. There, he found a donkey and woodpecker fighting against each other.__"_

* * *

"What the hell are you talking about?" Shinn asked incredulously. "You're the one who chose the bridal gown, not me!"

"But I was busy at that time and told you to get the best one. When I said the best one, I didn't mean the mini skirt!" Cagalli said while crossing her arms.

"You're the one who pointed!"

"I was busy at that time and you're the one who I asked to choose. Fat help there!"

"I'm not the one suggesting wearing the maroon suit to the wedding!" Shinn sniffed.

Kisaka sighed while trying to tune out the argument between the would-be husband and wife. The two really love each other to the death but sometimes he couldn't help but wonder whether they were trying to drive each other to early graves as well. He had predicted that their arguments would become lesser and lesser as they progressed in their relationship but alas that was not meant to be. In fact, they were becoming louder and louder. That trail of thought led to another one and Kisaka winced as he recalled hearing an 'argument' between the two of them in the office a month earlier. The sounds they made left to imagination the place where they did it; maybe they 'argued' all over the place: the desk, the sofa and even the carpet.

He was beginning to feel his age.

"What do you say, Kisaka?" Cagalli asked, breaking him out of his reverie. "Shinn's at fault here, right?"

"No. You tell her that it's her fault," Shinn interjected.

He took a deep breath. "Why don't we settle it the way adults do? I can lock you inside this room and only return after you make up and perhaps make out as well."

That instantly got the two to shut up.

* * *

_"__Sunny offered them some treats and they stopped fighting. After eating the treats, they decided to follow him. They walked for days and days until they found a green parrot and its family. The bird told the group that the dragon lived across the sea and after discussing with its family, decided to follow him to show them the way.__"_

* * *

Athrun smiled apologetically at the shopkeeper as he brought out the wallet to pay for the broken vase while Lunamaria was off at the corner, telling their daughter the danger of running around inside the shop. He was happy being with his family at that time and it was worth it but it did seem easier commanding a battle cruiser into a battle rather than telling his hyperactive daughter not to fiddle with anything. "How much?" he asked the middle-aged woman.

"It is an antique vase."

Crap.

"Rather expensive and rare vase."

The ship was certainly easier even if it is outnumbered and outgunned.

He was fortunate that it was mandatory for businesses to take insurance coverage against such items and he was fortunate that the shop owner was honest enough to tell him about that little fact. However, he had to hear a severe reprimand from her for letting his daughter running around the shop unattended; it was his mistake for not paying attention to her. He apologized again and again.

After the family went out of the shop, his beloved wife turned toward him and said softly so that their daughter would not hear her, "Why don't we get a cone of ice cream each? Irene promised to behave."

Athrun gave her a look that told her that he disagreed with the suggestion. He had read some books on child psychology that mentioned the importance of parents not bribing their children in order to get them to behave because it would teach them wrong values.

Lunamaria nodded in understand. He had reminded her about that fact on occasions when she wanted to treat their daughter to ice cream. Truthfully, she didn't see the harm in indulging their daughter but since Athrun said so then it would be best to just follow it. After all, one of the so many reasons why she married Athrun was because he always knew what to do. "Okay, so anything you want to get?"

"Huh?"

"Well, I did say that we need to get some groceries and you volunteered to watch Irene since you don't want to go inside the departmental store."

Slowly, the man turned toward his daughter whose eyes was transfixed at a place. "Daddy, why don't we go to that shop?" Irene asked while pointing to it.

The shop look very enticing; the beautifully fragile glass figurines on the display window as well as their numerous counterparts in the store were just waiting for a five-year old girl to come along and break them…

"I have a better idea," Athrun said. "Why don't you and I go to the ice cream shop and we can eat some sundae while waiting for your mum to buy some groceries."

"Really? Can I eat some waffle as well?" Irene asked excitedly. "With syrup and chocolate ice cream?"

"Yes."

"YAY!" the girl chirped.

"Really Freudian of you, Dear," Lunamaria commented as Athrun was being pulled toward his place of salvation from children's mischief and unguided curiosity.

Athrun suspected that the psychologists didn't have any child, that was why they could simply give advices without really knowing whether the advices were useful or not. He would like to see them handle Irene and if they survive, perhaps then he would listen to them.

* * *

"_Sunny, the donkey, the woodpecker and the parrot walked toward the shore, where they found a boat and a cheetah as its boatman. The cheetah offered to bring them across sea alive if they let it eat one of them. Sunny told it that it cannot eat him because of he was the one who wanted to go across the ocean. The donkey, being a jackass, offered itself but Sunny whispered to the cheetah that since the donkey is hardheaded, its meat must be hard as well. Then, the cheetah thought about eating the woodpecker but Sunny pointed out that it was too small that its bone or beak might got stuck in the cheetah's throat. As for the parrot, the cheetah didn't want to eat the bird because it always preferred to enjoy its meal in silence"_

"_In the end, Sunny gave the cheetah a sausage he was carrying and the animal happily agreed to take the group across the sea. To help pass the time and to detract the woodpecker from feeling seasick, the cheetah told the group the story about its cousins the fox, the weasel and the wolf." _

* * *

Dearka's eyebrows furrowed. "Let me get this straight. I'm supposed to fly below the radar, drop the five of you undetected and then picked you an hour later?"

Heine pulled the slide of his gun and then released it, smirking at the crunchy click caused by the mechanism snapping back into its original position. "Hopefully without us being found? We're not carrying enough ammo to storm the base."

"Are you nuts? We're going into a military installation, ZAFT no less, to plant a virus that will wipe out the whole data and that's all you have to say?"

Heine put a finger under his chin and considered the other blonde's words. He then shrugged and then turned toward the person next to him. "He got me there. How about you, Meyrin? Got anything to add?"

"Don't fly too low or too fast. We want to minimize our presence," Meyrin said as she checked the computer she would be carrying. She then turned toward the other two men. "I want to go silent so bring enough tranquilizers."

"Yes ma'am!" one of them answered.

"What the fuck?!" Dearka uttered. When he was recruited for to join UNITY's clandestine intelligence agency, he didn't really expect to be carrying such dangerous and risky jobs. Heck, he didn't expect to see Heine and Meyrin to be involved as well. Didn't they have a sandwich joint or two somewhere?

"You were chosen because you were former ZAFT soldiers," a man said as he walked toward them. "So, in the most unlikely chance that you're caught, we can always say that you're part of pro-Gilbert supporters."

"You're better off as Neo, Fllaga," Dearka retorted. "Your 'commercial' smile is giving me the creeps."

"What can I say? I'm a successful author, a good husband to my wife and a proud father to two boys. I have all the reasons to smile." Then Fllaga turned serious. "As for this mission, if we managed to pull this off, we'll be able to slow down ZAFT's research on new weapon technologies, just like what we did to the Confederation."

Dearka still couldn't believe the audacity of their mission. Then again, since it was planned by Fllaga, it was to be expected. "So, where is the scout that would show us the way to through the canyon?"

"On the way."

"How come I don't see him around? I've been in this outfit for a month already."

"Oh, she's a part timer."

"Part timer? She?"

The door opened and a said person entered. Dearka's eyes widened in surprise.

"Mir?"

* * *

"_Sunny, his group and the cheetah boatmen sailed and sailed. They even met a big octopus along the way that told them that the dragon lived on an island where no man dared to go. It also pointed the way with its many tentacles."  
_

* * *

"Erectile Dysfunction?" Sammy asked with an annoyed look on her face. "You have the problem?"

"Ejection Dysfunction. I'm referring to the ejection seat problem that we have to solve," Terrence answered, giving a thumbs up. "You personally know I don't have the problem in 'that' area."

The woman rolled her eyes. Even though she liked the man, sometimes she had to wonder whether she had bumped her head against something hard, very hard, to have fallen for the crazy man beside her. Sure, he was handsome and rich, and quite decent in the bed but his quirkiness bordered on weird.

There was a clunk and the sound of body hitting the ground.

"Stupid generator!" Terrence shouted. "You dare stand in my way, huh?" The generator was kicked few times. "Ouch! Damn you're hard. Oh, you're mocking me with your silence eh?" There were few gunshots. "Ha ha ha ha ha ha. Take that you stupid bastard! You're weren't that tough after all, eh?"

Yes, he was Terrence Shauzer, the genius that basically rewrote the mobile suit development rules that constrict their usefulness. He was also the man proposed for the use of technologically inferior but mature electric propulsion combat mobile suits when at that time other designers were content to use novel but rather impractical solar sail propulsion and its derivatives. He is the man that UNITY entrusted to come up with newer and newer mobile suits that will safeguard Earthsphere's future.

"What are you looking at, you dumb console? You want to receive the same fate, eh?"

Sammy sighed. She really must have bumped her head for her to be with him.

* * *

"_They also met pirates who were so silly that that the pirates didn't know that they were supposed to take the Sunny and his group's money instead of giving them some food._"

* * *

"They're not biting, are they, Comrade Robinson?" a slightly older Barzhakov who was lying on a chair asked the man next to him.

"Guess not," the former Confederation commander replied as he took a sip of lemonade. "But I saw you brought along some steak just in case, so I'm not really worried."

They were on a small boat in the middle of the vast Atlantic Ocean, watching a flock of bird flew by in their migratory pattern.

"Typical of Barzhakov to be optimistically pessimistic," Jacques heavily accented words caused the former Cherubim captain's face to go sour.

"You forgot that I once kicked you off your own ship; it wouldn't be hard to kick you off mine."

"Ah, always seek to remind me of the good old time. Feeling old, aren't we?"

"Damn," Barzhakov cursed. "He no longer reacts to that provocation."

"When you become a politician, Barzhakov, you learn to handle provocations worse than that, though you would be afflicted with blood pressure problems," Mark remarked. "Talking about pressure, Jacques, how about the one the government is facing?"

"The terrorists are becoming more and more brazen," the man said while taking a place behind Barzhakov.

"Hopefully the problems they are causing are enough to drive you to an early grave," Barzhakov said.

Jacques kicked the man's chair few times to annoy him. "I survived you. Besides it's not really my problem now. You forgot that I've retired."

* * *

"_After days and days travelling, the group arrived at a big island where the black dragon lives. At the shore, there were two beautiful sirens singing a very sad song. The song is about a chivalrous white dragon that had been defeated by the black dragon and then imprisoned in the darkest region in the darkest cave._"

* * *

As the crowd in front the two singers broke into thunderous applause, Meer wiped off the tears from her eyes. "That was beautiful, Lacus," she said to the person next to her as they walked off the stage for a short respite.

"Thanks," the pink princess said amidst the drowning din as the guest boy band went up to perform.

"But, I sense that there's something nor right."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it's off."

"Oh, you're saying that the song doesn't fit in with the lyric."

"No no no. The song and the lyric are perfect. It's just that your new song, 'The soul of love'… even though seems upbeat… I sense that there's a hidden sadness behind it."

Lacus gave a small smile. "As expected from my friend and rival. Actually wrote the song few years ago, when I lost to her," she explained.

"Lost to her?"

She nodded. "You see. I thought love in an ideal manner, you know, the most powerful and selfless feeling in the world that would gives me the strength to go on."

"It isn't?"

"That is just part of it. She showed me that love is a contradiction of oneself. Even though it is the most selfless emotion in the world, it is also the most selfish thing you can ever have. When you fall in love, even when you received the world, you have to give up the world as well. You become so strong but at the same time you become so pitiful weak. As she said, to love is to be in eternal madness. The only way to not be caught up in the insanity is to not surrender your soul. However, to not surrender the soul means that you're not fully in love."

"I've never thought love in that way."

"Neither did I. I thought that love would give me the world but she… she was willing to give up everything… everything including the love that she was seeking just for him… and eventually he, her."

"Lacus…"

The said person smiled again, "I was so depressed when I lost him and even now, there's a twinge in my heart," she said as she put hand on her breast. "But you know what?"

"What?"

"Now I'm not afraid to love… to give it all."

* * *

"_Sunny and his group went to the cave where they saw the white dragon being held by big chains so that it could not escape. The white dragon told Sunny and his group that if they free it, it would join them to fight the black dragon. However, in order to free it, they must seek out the key to the locks holding the chains. So Sunny and his group went to find the evil wizard who held the key. They soon found a fairy fighting against the evil wizard. Sunny and his group helped the fairy and together they defeat the evil wizard."_

* * *

The bridge finally stopped moving. "Nemain had completed its reconfiguration into assault mode," Vino announced from his console. "Pizzabox and his squad have engaged the enemy forces."

"Good," Enishi said from his seat. "Malik, prepare the docking sequence."

"Aye, Captain," Malik said from his driver's seat.

When the shadow war concluded with UNITY's defeating The Destineds and finally earned the trust of Earthsphere, Enishi had thought that peace had been achieved. However that was an illusion to the rest of the world. Battles after battles had to be fought to in order to ensure that the illusion of peace could be maintained. Perhaps what Kira had mentioned to him about humanity's progress being built upon sacrifices and deaths was true after all.

Even at that time, they still had to fight with the remnants of The Destineds that were trying to launch a nuclear attack on San Paolo from space. If they were not stopped, it would cause massive deaths as well as destabilize Earthspere.

"Docking with Guardian has been completed," Malik announced. "Transferring maneuvering control to Guardian."

* * *

"_The fairy then joined their group. With the key they got, they freed the white dragon which carried them toward the black dragon's place. There, they fight the black dragon. The parrot and the woodpecker would attack the dragon's eyes so that it could not see. The mule would hew haw loudly and the blinded black dragon would chase after it, only to be tackled by the white dragon. The fairy casted a powerful spell on Sunny's sword and Sunny used it to defeat and slay the black dragon."_

"_Sunny thought that he had become the most powerful person in the world but he found out that the witch had lied to him. He then returned to his home with his friends."_

"_Sunny killed the witch?" a small girl who was on her bed asked the female who sat next to her._

"_No, he didn't, munchikin," a masculine voice interrupted before the storyteller could continue. _

"_Daddy!" the girl squealed. "You know what happened next, right?"_

"_Of course. On the way home, Sunny thought and thought about what the witch had said. He realized that just as the witch had promised, he had become the most powerful man in the world as he had managed to kill the black dragon that even the witch couldn't defeat. However he realized he was powerful because he was helped by his friends, the jacka… the donkey, the woodpecker, the parrot, the fairy and the white dragon. The cheetah boatman, the octopus, the pirates and the sirens also helped him as well."_

"_Then what happened?" the girl asked._

"_Sunny realized that the witch wanted to teach him that the only way to become powerful is by being together with friends and family. So he returned home and married the witch. They had a beautiful daughter," the man pinched the girl's cheek playfully, "just like you and they lived happily ever after."_

"_What a weird story," the girl said, "but I like it."_

"_Good. And now it's time for you to sleep," _

"_Good night daddy, goodnight mummy."_

_The storyteller kissed the girl's forehead. "Good night, sweetie," she said as she tucked the girl. _

_The man and the female left the room. _

"_How long have you been there?" the female asked. _

"_From the very beginning. You were so absorbed in telling her the story that you didn't sense me standing outside. Since the story was so interesting, I decided to keep quiet and listen until she asked about what happened next."_

"_Sunny wasn't supposed to marry the witch, you know." _

_The man hugged her from the back and nuzzled her neck, eliciting a moan from her. "You didn't know the reason Sunny wanted to become strong in the first place was because he had a crush on the witch and was captivated by her flaming red hair and grey eyes. So by becoming strong, he could be by her side and protect her."_

_She put a hand on his arms fondly. "Kira…"_

"_Well, Fllay you're my witch and I wouldn't want it any other way."_

_Fllay blushed. "Have you had dinner?"_

"_Yeah. Since it was already late and I already asked the two of you to have dinner, I grabbed a ready-to-eat from a convenience store." He then blew her ear softly and relished at her shivering in his arms. "But now Sunny wants to eat his beatiful witch for supper," he whispered huskily. _

_Kira had to hold Fllay as her legs nearly gave way. _

_Before he could get further, a telephone melody killed the mood. _

* * *

"So, how are you enjoying your 'afterlife', Kira?" Shinn asked as the two of them sat at the porch, each holding a mug of steaming coffee. "I reckoned you're burning in hell somewhere."

"I was certainly incensed when you called at that time."

"Hmm?" Shinn looked inside to see Cagalli was busy spoiling her niece while chatting with Fllay. "Well, your 'older sister' getting annoyed that her dead brother probably wouldn't come to her wedding in a month's time."

"I kept track of her from time to time."

"Yeah, from the news. Heck, she knows that you're staying at the colony, teaching biophysics as 'Shawn Allsters'. She even knows that 'Shawn' came from 'shine' which translates into 'Kira' in Japanese. Anything about you, from your family life up to the part where you were pulled from the frontline and being put on reserve, she knew."

"How?"

Shinn shrugged. "Well, someone really owed her a favor and she cashed on that to find about your whereabouts. Once we found you, well… Anyway, that's not the point. The point is that knowing that you're alive and meeting you face-to-face are two different things. I think even though I managed to prevent her from wiping the floor with your body, you still owe her an apology."

"I know."

"Athrun would be happy to find out that you're still alive. It's a bit irritating, you know, when he comes to ORB, he would always visit your grave and offer some prayers with me standing beside him knowing very well that you're actually alive."

"It's not that I don't want to tell, but you know how it is."

"Yeah, but you still owe it to him. Since the ceremony would be held privately, your family can be there with all of us."

"Cagalli really thought about this, doesn't she?"

"That's why I wouldn't let you sit this one out." The younger man took a sip from his coffee before continuing. "So why enter reserve? I expected that you'll in the active service for a few years more."

"I found out that I'm a selfish man after all," Kira replied. "I don't want to risk my daughter growing up alone if something happens to me."

"How about Fllay?"

"One of us will not survive the other for long."

"Yeah, heard about that. The 'M' something. Lacus told us about it. That's also why Cagalli want to see all of you, you know, so that her niece would know her. How about the diagnosis?"

"Oh, they're stable." In truth, Kira couldn't be sure how long the MOIRAE implants inside both his and Fllay's brains would remain stable. Terrence had mentioned that the modules had linked with their respective neo-cortex as well as the limbic system so removing them were simply out of question. Who knows, perhaps one of the modules would stop working maybe a decade, a year or even a day later and when it happened both he and Fllay would die. It was his turn to gaze inside. Fllay and Cagalli was playing with his daughter.

Fllay once had pleaded with him to remove his own chip before the process became irreversible but he refused because that would cause him to lose her, something he couldn't accept. He had never regretted having the implant and would never regret it as long as he would be with her. Yes, he was worried for their daughter in case something happened but being a normal human, one could only do so far against the tide of fate.

That said, as long as he was alive, he would do everything he could to protect his loved ones.

"You really love them," Shinn commented as he observed the soft look on the other man's face.

Kira could only smile. "Yeah."

Life would go on and he would live it to the fullest with his family. The tale of Sunny's was just beginning after all


End file.
